Not what it looks like
by MrsMorrisonCobain
Summary: A/U. mitchie and jason have never been away for longer than a week. but what happens when their plans to go to camp rock together dont work out, and mitchie ends up staying home because of tess tyler? Changed name from UNTITLED.
1. Prologue

**So, this is my first attempt at a multi chapter fic. Any critisisms is greatly appretiated. This chapter is kinda short. But im writing the second one already. This one is pretty uneventful, but its an introduction to mitchie and jasons relationship. Hope you like it (:**

"Do you really have to go?"

"Yes Mitchie."

"Geez Jase, couldn't you at least act like you were sorry I couldn't come? I mean we're not gonna see each other for almost 2 months and this is how you talk to me? Well forgive me for giving a damn."

I turned around, tears welling up in my eyes and started walking for the door. I closed the door behind me, and still nothing. Looks like he really couldn't care less. I walked up to my room and threw myself on my un made bed. I can't believe I woke up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday to say bye to him and he treats me this way. Its bad enough that I cant go to Camp Rock. And don't forget Jason is going. Which means I wont be able to see him until its over. This will definitely be the worse summer ever!

I heard a nock on the door. But I didn't even bother, it was wide open, and whoever it was could see me. Its not like I cared, Jase was probably gone by now.

A loud sigh.

I almost got up to see who was at the door but I could hear someone walking towards me. The bed suddenly dipped at the side, and a hand rested on my back.

"I'm sorry"

He really should be. I didn't even bother to reply. This was going to be the first time we were going to be apart for longer than a week. We weren't supposed to be apart. We were supposed to go together. To Camp Rock. And have the best summer anyone could have. But no. I couldn't go. He'd leave and I'd be stuck here. Damn Tess and her money. Just had to pay her way in and take my spot. And to think she was only doing it to be with Jason! He hated her, how could she not see it. Besides, he wouldn't do that to me.

"Please Mitch," he groaned. "Don't be like that. You're acting like a girl."

"I _am_ a girl Jason, in case you haven't noticed."

"You know that's not what I mean. Please just get over it, and give me a hug so I can leave. I can't go knowing you're upset." God, I could practically hear his pout in his voice.

I groaned. He was right. I _was_ acting like a girl. It wasn't his fault Tess had crush on him since we were 7. And it wasn't his fault either that he was too much of a gentleman to be rude and tell her to go away and mind her own business. Or any other girl for that matter.

"I'm sorry." I turned around to face him. "But you know I cant help it. It's been our dream to go to together since, well, _forever_!"

He pulled me in for a hug and didn't let go.

"I know. It's just, it's Camp Rock. Camp Rock Mitchie! I can't let the opportunity pass. Even if it does suck that you won't there with me to share the best summer ever."

"Need – air!"

"Oh, sorry." He loosed his grip on me a little, but still didn't let go. "I'm gonna miss you."

"I'm gonna miss you too." I couldn't help but smile. He did care after all. "You better call and email me though."

"of course Mitchie," he chuckled. God how I was going to miss him. "I promise ill call everyday. And if there's no service ill email. And if there's no email ill write you letters. And if the post service isn't working ill… uhm…"

"Send smoke signals?" I managed to say laughing.

"Yeah! That!" he said. Could he be any more clueless?

"Bye lil' sis," he kissed the top of my head, and was out of my room before I could say anything.


	2. Chapter 1

**I know this is short. I actually wrote more, but the next chapter will be a couple days later. I like it like that a lot better. (:**

I couldn't believe it, Jase was gone. It was now 10, I'd been able to go back to sleep, but now that I was awake it hit me. I'd be all alone – well not exactly, mom and dad would be here – with no one to hang out with.

I went downstairs and poured myself a cup of coffee. I pulled out the milk and a bowl. I sat at the table and served myself some cereal.

It then occupied to me. I didn't have to wait for Jase to call. I whipped out my cell phone and dialed his number. No service. Great. I'd have to try later.

But later brought no fortune. He had to be there already. This could only mean he would not be calling everyday like he promised. 'I guess emails will do' I thought. But boy was I wrong.

I did whatever I could to keep myself distracted. But it wasn't really working. God. I was useless without him.

I settled for my sketchpad. I grabbed my keys and my cell phone – not like anyone was going to be calling anytime soon – and headed out the door. I walked all the way to the park, and settled for a spot shaded by a tree, next to the pond. Feeding the ducks was a little girl I had never seen before. I started sketching her. It turned out pretty good, but I was once again left with nothing to do.

I found myself daydreaming, frantically scribbling the lyrics to a new song. It started out as a joke on myself, 'This is real, this is me, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now'. Fat chance. Surprisingly enough it ended up being quite deep and meaningful to me. When I was done I couldn't wait to get home and start figuring out the bridge and progression. This was completely new to me. Writing songs usually involved Jason strumming his guitar, and me just bursting out into song. Eventually writing down whatever I had improvised and working from there. Polishing it.

I never though I'd be able to write without him, not this easily. It was like the words were all bottled up inside me, waiting to pour out.

When the sun started to set I knew it was time to go home. Mom was bound to be there already, and shed worry if she didn't know where I was.

To my surprise, she wasn't. I set my sketchpad on the table in the foyer and went into the kitchen. I opened the cookie jar. Great. No cookies.

I went to my room and closed the door behind me. I started playing around with the keyboard while I hummed my new song. I was halfway through when I realized Jason should have emailed by now. Maybe they didn't have internet there. Two down, two to go. Although I'm not exactly sure how efficient those smoke signals would be. Knowing Jason he _would_ try.

I continued with my song. Before I even knew it, I was done and I had moved on to the next song. I searched my room and I found a blank notebook. I grabbed a marker and wrote 'Mitchie's Songs' on the cover. If I was stuck here for the rest of the summer, on my own, at least I'd have something to do.

Turns out, by the time I was done, dinner was ready. And mom had made chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I swear sometimes she could just read my mind.


	3. Chapter 2

The next couple days were basically the same. I'd get up, have breakfast, take a shower, head out side and in a peaceful place where I could write. I took my guitar with me a couple times, but it was mostly lyrics I focused on. Sometimes I wouldn't even go back home for lunch, id get an ice-cream or something. I'd be home around 6 and work on the melodies until supper was ready and then I'd do whatever I could until I was tired.

But today was different. 5 days after Jase had left there was a letter for me in the post. I usually didn't bother. Most of the time I didn't even open them, just chuck them out. But this time was different. I _was_ expecting a letter. Jason's to be precise.

_**Hey Mitchie! **_

_**I**__**'m really sorry I didn't call, or email. But I'm sure by now you've figured out its only because there's no way I could. My cell phone has no service, and there are a couple public phones, but they are always swarmed by kids wanting to call home. I promise ill try to call. As for the emails, well it is camp. There are no computers here. Which leaves us with the post…**_

_**You have absolutely no idea how amazing camp is. I met **__**these two really cool guys, Nate and Shane. You'd love them! They are really nice, and we've been playing together. Were thinking we might enter Final Jam as a group. **_

_**Nate can play the guitar, and drums and piano! He's seriously good, but he sticks to vocals and sometimes the guitar. He's got an awesome voice. Shane plays the piano and guitar. But he'd rather just sing.**_

_**Shane is writing this song, 'Play my music' and we might record it once it's done. There's this girl Caitlyn that wants to be a producer, I'm sure shed help and I'm sure Shane could get his uncle who just so happens to be the owner of the camp to email it to you, if you want of course. **_

_**Anyways, I have to go now sis, Advanced Guitar starts in 5 minutes.**_

_**Jason**_

I couldn't stop smiling all day. I was glad he was having such a good time, and that he had made friends. I was having a pretty good summer myself, nothing like his, there's no doubt about that, but it didn't suck as much as I thought it would.

Summer was pretty uneventful. I met this girl Sierra at the park one day, but other than that there wasn't anything special about it. Me and Sierra became quite good friends, and she came over sometimes, whether it was to hear my songs or just hang out and watch a movie, we quickly became best friends. I told her all about Jason and Nate and Shane who I felt I knew all life long, even if I hadn't even met them yet.

I eventually did get that recording of 'Play my music', and let me tell you, it was great! I even made it my ringtone.

Even with Sierra here, I couldn't help but miss Jason. No one could ever replace my best friend. Even the new one, Sierra couldn't be compared to him. As the weeks past, I got more and more excited. I couldn't wait for him to come back home. Two days before he came back, the day of Final Jam I couldn't sleep. I tried but it was no use. I wasn't sleeping anytime soon. So I went to the kitchen and got out an apple and some peanut butter. As I was halfway through my midnight snack the phone rung.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mitchie?" there was a lot of noise in the background, but I could tell it was Jason.

"Yeah, Jase, it's me. Is anything wrong? What happened? Are you okay?" I started panicking. Why would he call now, 2 days before he came back and at this time at night?

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Calm down. Everything's great. I'm sorry about the time. I was actually wondering if I could talk to mom or dad." That seemed to be enough for me.

"Just a minute." I put my hand over the receiver, "Mom? Dad? Jase is on the phone."

I heard their door fly open, and steps shuffling down the stairs. Mom's face was pale.

"Is he okay? Is anything wrong? What happened?"

"He's fine," I chuckled. I could just picture my face when I picked up the phone.

She pulled out a chair, and sat down. All she said was "uh huh" a couple times, as she fidgeted with her hair. I started getting irritated. What was going on? She finally let out a sigh and said "I love you Jase, bye." She put down the phone and was about to walk out the door.

"So? What did he say?"

"Oh, I thought you knew. Didn't he tell you?"

"Uh, no. I wouldn't be asking would I?" This was getting more than a little irritating.

"Jase won Final Jam honey."

"Okay, and?" It's not like that was a surprise. He was really good, and the recording he sent me could have easily been played on the radio.

"Well, there were some music producers there, and they asked him to come down to LA to talk things over. Something about a record deal, he was just asking if he could go. Nate and Shane already have permission. I'll have to go down there in a couple days though. You don't mind, do you?"

This was all too much. I could just feel the tears welling up in my eyes. No matter how I thought my summer hadn't been all that bad after all, and that I was glad Jason had a good time I couldn't help it. All the jealousy just crept back up.

"Oh," I managed to let out, even if it was barely audible. "That's just great," I muttered as I walked away.

Was I supposed to be happy about this? Was I supposed to feel proud? Not only was I not seeing him in 2 days because he had to go down to stupid LA but our dream came true. Though, it wasn't _our_ dream anymore. It was his – sorry _theirs_. I had been left out.

I cried myself to sleep that night. I hated what had happened. This stupid seemed to have put so much distance between me and Jason. I couldn't believe I wanted to got here in the first place. What was most shocking was he didn't even bother telling me. he told mom and that was it. Not even a good bye.

When I woke up the next morning I couldn't help but feel bitter inside. I didn't want to even face mom. I didn't want anything to do with my family. I took a quick shower and walked right out, not even bothering to say good morning. I just grabbed a granola bar on my way out and my keys. If they needed anything they could call me. I doubt I'd pick up, but they could leave a message if whatever was going on was so important.


	4. Chapter 3

By the time mom left I was still fuming. I couldn't stand being home with them around. I sometimes didn't even come back until they asked me to. But this was better. She'd be off to LA and I'd be left alone to do as I wanted. It's not like dad would have noticed I was acting _'off' _like mom had said if she hadn't actually mentioned it to him.

I pretended to still be asleep once I heard her walking towards my room, and remained as motionless as I could. I didn't even react when she called my name, _or_ sighed, like she knew I wasn't really sleeping. But I didn't care. I couldn't wait for her to leave so I could just ignore her and Jason who had suddenly become so close, and pretend like nothing was wrong.

I waited for a while, trying not to be too obvious. Then I got up and took a cold shower. I remained under the freezing water for a while and then walked out, shivering. I quickly changed into my clothes and ran for it. I was out the house and in the park before I even knew it.

Since I hadn't really gone out the whole summer I had a bunch of cash, and I decided to hit the mall. Just as I was getting there my cell phone started ringing. It was Sierra. I asked if she wanted to come to the mall, but she couldn't make it. She had to babysit her little cousin.

As soon as I got inside I walked towards the music store. I started going through the CDs hoping they had the new AC/DC one. Turns out they didn't. I thought I might as well look for another one. As I was searching the music changed to 'Roadhouse blues' and I couldn't help but smile. No matter how messed up things were, Jim always managed to make me feel better. The hell. If Jason had called right then I would have probably picked up.

"Keep your eyes on the road, your eyes upon the wheel," I started singing softly.

"You a fan of The Doors?" a heavy brit accent asked from behind me.

I turned around to find the guy that was at the register machine when I walked in right behind me.

"Uh, who isn't?" I replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well, most girls your age don't…"

"Don't what?" I cut in. "Don't know who Jim Morrison is? Don't appreciate rock?" I smirked.

"Well… yeah."

"I guess I'm not most girls."

"I guess your not," he smiled. "I'm Oliver by the way."

"Mitchie," I replied grinning. "Hey, do you have 'Black Ice'? I've been meaning to get it for a while now."

"Wow. A fan of AC/DC as well. I'm impressed. But I'm sorry we don't. I sold the last copy last week. We should be getting more in a couple days. Let me check when," he walked to the counter and searched for something on the database. "We're getting some in 3 days. I'll save you one."

"Okay, thanks," but the smile on my face was nowhere near as big as it had been seconds ago.

I turned around and started going through the CDs.

"Oh. My. God." My mouth was practically hanging over, and I didn't move for a couple seconds.

"What is it," Oliver rushed towards me.

I held up the CD, "it-it's 'Live at the Matrix 1967'. This was just released 3 days ago."

"I know," he chuckled. "I'm actually surprised we still have that one. It's the last copy."

"I'lltakeit," I said almost instantly.

I walked over to the counter, and paid for my CD. Then turned around to leave.

"I guess I'll see you in 3 days," I said as I walked out, "you better not sell my CD Oli, I'll hunt you down," I joked.

As I was listening to my newly acquired CD at home it hit me. Mom and Jason would be back in 2 days and there was nothing I could do about it.


	5. Chapter 4

"Honey, I'm home."

'_I'm home'_? What about Jason? No matter how mad at him I was I still missed him, and I couldn't wait to see him again. I ran downstairs to find my mom in the foyer.

"Where's Jason?"

"Uh, he's still in LA sweetie."

"What!?" Okay, this keeping me out of the loop business was getting old. "Why?" I whined.

"Oh, we bumped into what's his name," she furrowed her brows. "Oh, that Newton kid, the one you used to have a crush on."

My mouth dropped, "did not!" Ugh. This was unbelievable. I did _not_ have a crush on Nich. Okay, maybe a tiny little crush but still.

"Did too."

I just stormed out. This couldn't be happening. I missed him _so_ much. He was my second best friend. He was the only kid who didn't treat me like a girl. Just like Jason, only he wasn't my brother. And I hadn't seen him since he moved 2 years ago. And now Jason was hanging out with him. Great. Just great.

The only thing that cheered me up was thinking tomorrow I'd be picking up my new CD.

The next morning I woke up with a grin. I hadn't slept that well in a long time. This was just bound to be a good day – scratch that, _great_ day.

I skipped my way to the kitchen and had my regular bowl of cereal before heading out to the mall. As soon as I walked into the music store I saw Oliver duck down. For a second I thought he was hiding from me, had he sold my CD? But he soon shot up, with a huge grin plastered on his face and the CD in his hand. I ran up to him and hugged him.

"Oliver! Thank you so much!"

"Anytime," he replied.

We chatted for a little while and then I went out, since I was already at the mall it wouldn't hurt to look at some clothes, maybe buy a new pair of heels. I ended up walking out of 'Forever21' with 3 bags, but it was still early to have lunch so I went over to the music store again. When I walked in I noticed Oliver was changing the music playing.

"So, do you know where a girl can listen to some _good_ music?" a full-on smile in my face.

"if you mean 'The Jonas Brothers' then no, sorry. You might want to try another store," he said in a nonchalant tone.

"I'm sorry Oli, you must have heard wrong. I said good music. Not cookie-cutter-pop-stuff."

"Well then I think I might be able to help," he bent down and started looking through a pile of CDs. "What will it be?"

"A little Robert Plant never hurts…"

"Led Zeppelin it is."

He popped in the CD and the music filled in the room. I started humming to 'Dyer Maker' as I grabbed a stool and sat in it, next to the counter. I asked Oliver if he had some paper and a pencil, and once he handed them to me I started sketching. I made a sketch of the store from where I was sitting, and then started sketching Oliver who tried to tuned away once he noticed.

"Aw, don't be a spoil sport," I pouted.

"okay. You can sketch me, but tell me about yourself."

I told him about myself, and how I always considered myself another boy growing up. How id rather hang out with Jase and his friends rather than playing with dolls and pretending to be a princess.

"Okay, so I still don't get it, how does music fit into all this. I mean, yeah, you like music, most people do, but why _this_ music? I mean, you'd think you'd be influenced to like Britney Spears and Hannah Montana, but you don't."

I actually had to think about it. I never really realized this. And he was right. I was different. The couple girl friends I had did like The Jonas Brothers and although I had managed to get them to like _my_ music, it took a long time.

"I-I don't know. I guess it's my moms fault. When I was 7 she decided I should start a CD collection and she gave me bunch of them. The basics, you know? Appetite for destruction, Led Zeppelin I, Led Zeppelin IV, TNT, In Utero. I didn't really think much of them, sure I listened to them a couple times, but music wasn't my thing back then. Then when I turned 9 we went to San Francisco to visit some friends during the Christmas holidays, and I bought a walkman. I didn't have any CDs so I borrowed the ones my brother had just bought. I specifically remember the Nirvana one he lent me. Nevermind. I've actually got this picture my mom took. Its me walking through some random park ahead from everyone just drowning in the music like nothing else mattered. I actually still have a little crush on Kurt Cobain. As soon as we got back home I searched my entire room for those CDs my mom had given me, I remembered I was specially looking for the Nirvana one, and when I found it and I realized it was by the same band I quite liked it. And I listened to all the CDs once again. And I fell in love with music. After that, I couldn't really relate to the music being played on the radio. My CDs were just so much better I didn't even bother with it."

As I looked up from my sketch I noticed Oliver was just staring at me and this other guy who walked into the store a couple minutes before, he seemed to be listening to what I said, but I just brushed it off.

"What?"

"oh, nothing sorry," he shook his head.

"Music was never a big part of my life before that. Except maybe my dad. I remember being about 4, jumping on the couch at home listening to a Beatles LP with my father. Its actually one of my fondest memories from when I was little."

"Well that's pretty random. It's cool though. Are you guys really close?"

"Actually were not. We barely speak. And he doesn't care about music like I do. Not anymore at least. He just put everything in a box and forgot about it. Half the music I like I found in that box and whenever I mention it he just changes the subject."

The guy who walked into the store now walked to the counter with a huge pile of CDs. I already had most of them, but I couldn't help but smile when I spotted this one Supertramp CD I didn't know. My hand immediately shot out, and I looked at him hesitantly.

"D-do you mind?"

"Not at all," he smiled. God. He was really good looking.

"Indelibly Stamped. Hmm, what year is this from?"

"1971."

"I cant believe I missed it. I've never heard of it before. Is it any good?"

"Yeah! You should listen to it," he turned around to face Oliver. "Uhm, do you think you could…" He motioned to the CD player.

"Yeah, of course. Just a minute."

I heard the first two songs and then just stood up and looked for the CD. I walked back to Oliver and handed it to him.

"Ill take it." I turned around and looked at Shane, "thanks; I suppose my collection really is complete now."

"You're welcome." He stretched out his hand, "I'm Shane."

"Mitchie."

**Okay. They met! I actually ended up writing this whole thing between oliver and mitchie. But wasn't really relevant to the story. So there it is. I hope you liked it (:**


	6. Chapter 5

**First of all. Merry Christmas. I hope you guys had fun. I know I did. Even if ive got a killer headache now. It was totally worth it. **

I only had 8 days before school started again and I was dreading it. I couldn't think straight. This was my first year at school without Jason. It was bad enough before, not having him in the same classes, but at least I could spend lunch break with him.

Now I had no one. Except…

I got out my cell phone and called Sierra. It turns out we were both going to the same school, and we were both in Grade 10. it seems whenever Jason wasn't around she was, and I could get used to it.

Sierra and I decided to go to the mall, to get any supplies we might need for school and to just occupy our time.

As we walked through the mall, we passed in front of the music store.

"Hey, mind if we go in here? I'll be quick."

"Sure," she said walking in.

My cousin's birthday was coming up, and I wanted to see if I could find anything for her. I walked up to Oliver, who was organizing a stack of CDs.

"So, what's hot right now?" I said with a wide grin plastered on my face.

He turned around, and looked at me confused. He opened and closed his mouth a couple times, but it seems he couldn't settle on anything.

"It's my 8 year old cousin's birthday next week, and I have no idea what to get her, so I thought I might as well ask the expert," I explained, practically rolling on the floor laughing.

"Oh," Oliver murmured blushing profusely.

"Oh, come on Oli! What will it be?"

He looked around, hesitant and then got a serious look on his face.

"Well, personally I'd recommend The Number of the Beast. But seeing as we are speaking of an 8 year old you should settle for the latest Rihanna album or something. Anything from the back corner should do."

"Thanks."

Sierra and I then went around the mall talking about nothing in particular. We were nearly at the other side of the mall when I spotted a recently opened Starbucks, and we walked in.

"Tall Caramel Frappucino please. No cream." I turned around to Sierra, "what do you want?"

"Uh, nothing."

"C'mon, I'm buying."

"Uh, just OJ"

"And an orange juice please."

As I waited for my coffee I spotted Shane walking into the store. He was bobbing his head and I noticed he had his buds on. He looked up turned off his iPod, took off the buds and ordered his drink. As he turned around to get out of the way for the people behind him to order, he noticed me and Sierra and smiled, and he came over.

"And so we meet again."

"And so we meet again," I retorted smiling. I motioned towards Sierra, "this is my friend Sierra. Sierra this is Shane."

"Nice to meet you," they both said at the same time. Sierra turned deep red while Shane just laughed it off.

The three of use headed for a table and just sat there, chatting. After a while we started discussing music, and Sierra sort of spaced out. If there was anything we were complete opposites in, it was music. Its not that she didn't like the same music as me, but she didn't fancy music that much. She didn't mind it, she was fine with listening to the radio in the car, but she didn't _live_ for music.

It turns out Shane writes songs. He sings and plays the guitar, and his role model is Sid Vicious. He – and I quote – _would give anything to have the sort of influence Sid Vicious had on people. And be able to change people's moods with his music just like he did_ – unquote.

A coupe of hours later Sierra got a call from her mom asking if she could come home and we had to leave because she was driving me home. I didn't really feel like walking al the way home. Shane walked us to the parking lot, and as we reached Sierra's car he started fidgeting a lot.

"Uh, Mitchie?"

"Yes Shane?" I turned around to face him.

"I-I w-was wondering if-if," he looked down at his feet and took a deep breath. "youwantedtogooutsometime."

"What?"

"I said," he took another deep breath, "would you like to go out with me sometime?" He finally looked up.

"Yeah sure!" I said smiling. "You should call me sometime."

"Okay, well bye I guess. See you guys some other time."

"Bye Shane" Sierra said getting into the drivers seat.

"Bye" I said as I turned to open the door.

Just as I was closing the door I realized Shane didn't have my number and I was about to say something.

"Wait!" Shane cried out as he ran towards me. "I, uh, don't have your number."

I smiled and looked around for some paper and a pen, but Shane handed me his Sidekick. I saved my number and gave it back, and with a smile I closed the door, and Sierra drove off.

"So, who is this Shane guy?" Sierra finally broke the silence. We didn't even bother to turn on the radio. I was too busy thinking about Shane and I guess she was waiting for me to speak.

"I, uh, I met him a couple days ago in the music store. I went to pick up a CD but I had nothing to do, so I just stayed there chatting with Oliver, and Shane came in. he got a bunch of CDs and he had this one I never heard of before by Supertramp. And Jason and I absolutely love Supertramp, and I asked him about it. I don't really know him. He payed for his stuff and left. And I just saw him today, and I didn't even know if he remembered me."

"Well, he sure did remember, I mean, did you see the way his face lit up when he saw you?"

I blushed. Luckily we were a few meters away from my house. I undid the seat belt and grabbed my stuff.

"No he didn't!" I let out as I stepped out. I rushed inside the house without even waving good bye.

**Just a random fact I thought id share with you guys – the average human eats between 6 and 7 spiders in his life, while he sleeps. Its preoccupying, I know.**


	7. Chapter 6

i ran up the stairs and into my room. I belly flopped onto my bed. I reached over to the other side, and turned on my CD player. Every time I closed my eyes I could see Shane. He was so perfect. No, no, no. I couldn't think of him. Not that way at least. I had barely even met him. And there was no way he liked me this much. Sure he'd asked me out, but maybe was just surprised to find someone – a girl – who likes _decent_ music.

But then my train of though was interrupted.

'I just wanna play my music…'

Ugh, I had to change my ringtone. I felt around my bed searching for it, and when I did I turned on my back. I had a text message from a number I didn't recognize.

It must be Shane's. No it couldn't be. I mean, it _could_ be him, but it could also be from anyone else. I ended up spacing out. Thinking about the possibility of Shane texting me and forgetting about the actual text message.

_**Hey Mitch. (: Gah. I'm bored. What r u doing?—Shane**_

Wow. That was unexpected. What was I doing?

_**Not much. Just listening to this awesome CD I bought the other day. This one guy showed it to me at the music store :D Mitchie.**_

I quickly sent the message and changed my ringtone to Electric Feel. Then I saved Shane's number and waited for his reply.

_**Cool. You know, I met this really nice girl at the music store myself. And, I was wondering if she was free tomorrow night. I kinda wanted to go out with her**__**...—Shane**_

As soon as I heard my ringtone I smiled. But when I read the message Shane had just sent, my smile grew considerably. I didn't have any plans tomorrow… but I didn't want to seem over excited.

_**Uh, I should be able to make it. Just let me check to make sure. Mitchie**_

As the music continued to play, I lay in my bed. Waiting for Shane to say something. I guess I fell asleep waiting. The next thing I knew it was morning already and I had 4 messages from Shane.

_**So. Can **__**u make it?—Shane**_

_**Mitch? R u coming?—Shane**_

_**Mitchie?**_

_**If u don't want to come just say so. U don't need to ignore me or anything.**_

Crap. What should I do? I didn't even know were I was meeting him. Wait. Or if he was picking me up. I didn't want to call him, incase he was angry or anything but a text message didn't seem appropriate.

I flipped a coin. Heads I'd call. Tails I'd te – crap. I'd have to text him.

_**Shane! im sorry. I fell asleep, where should we meet? xxMitchie.**_

5 minutes. Nothing. But then again, he usually took a while to answer.

10 minutes. Maybe he was asleep…

1 hour. I started to worry. He had to be up now. Didn't he? It was 10 already.

**Okay. So its REALLY short. But im a little bit depressed ight now. And I cant write. Im sorry. Ive just spent over 3 hours sitting in front of th computer. Not writing, jst staring at the screen.**


	8. Chapter 7

_**Hey Mitch. I thought you bailed out on me. meet me at the music store in the mall. 7 okay wit you?—Shane**_

I let out the breath I didn't even know I was holding. The relief I felt was amazing. Just the idea of Shane being upset was mortifying. But I couldn't get ahead of myself. No. I had to act like nothing was going on, like we were just friends. Whatever was meant to happen, _would_ happen. I just had to wait.

But waiting became unbearable. I couldn't _wait_ to see him. I wanted to talk to him, to know what he was thinking.

_**Music store it is. Anything interesting going on? xxMitch**_

Minutes became unbearably long, and the world seemed to stop, move at a glacial speed while I waited for his reply.

_**Not really. Im just checking my email.—Shane**_

We continued chatting about nothing in particular. After a while, we were saying nothing, just wasting time. I was sitting in my roof, and he was listening to this indie band's CD he got from his cousin.

At about 4 I started freaking out. I took a shower and dried my hair and got into a pair of sweats. Once I was in my room I plugged in my flat iron and started straightening my hair. When it was pin-straight I made my way to my closet.

After going over every single garment in it, I felt like crying. I couldn't find anything I wanted to wear. And I didn't understand why I was acting this way. I was never a girly-girl. I never really cared about my appearance, and I had gone on dates before and never made anywhere near as much fuss about it as I was now. So what was different? Had I really changed that much since Jason left? And since when did I like Shane so much? I barely knew him!

I had the sudden urge to cancel the date – on multiple occasions – but I wouldn't be able to deal with it. What would I actually tell Shane? What would be my excuse? And most importantly, how would he react? No matter what was going through my mind at the time, I liked Shane more than I was willing to admit.

I finally settled for a short purple dress, a black waist coat, a grey cardigan and black converse, but I couldn't help spacing out thinking of the date id soon have with Shane.

Sometime between my daydreaming and getting ready I lost track of time, and before I knew it, it was time to leave. It was 6:30 and I wasn't even ready yet. I quickly put on some eyeliner and applied some clear mascara. On my way out I picked up a black purse and shoved my things in it, and I applied lip gloss on my way down the stairs.

My walk to the mall was like no other. I was like I saw things for the first time. Like I never noticed the way the sun set over the houses, everything was so much brighter, happier. I even skipped my way into the music store once I was inside the mall. I felt unbelievably good, like I would burst of happiness, the joy overflowing me.

That was of course until I saw Shane talking to some girl outside the store. I immediately stopped in my tracks. My face fell and I felt like a little girl who's just lost her new toy.

I couldn't move. My brain kept telling my body to turn around and walk away, but it wouldn't budge. As I stood there, Shane and the girl continued talking but when he looked around and his eyes met mine; he flashed a huge grin and started walking towards me, not even noticing the girl next to him. And I could swear his face lit up when he saw me. No it couldn't. I had to be wrong. Why would it? I must be imagining things.

"Hi," he said once again flashing that gorgeous smile. He hugged me, and I could tell he lingered a little bit. And for that second I was the happiest person on earth. The happiness I felt on my way here was nothing compared to what I felt now. When he pulled away, he smiled again. "Hi," he repeated.

He took my hand in his and pulled me towards the girl. She had long black hair and was wearing a very revealing low cut white shirt and a tiny pair of cut out shorts, and heart slip-on Vans. She was huge, almost as tall as Shane, and very pretty.

I go insecure, and dozens of questions shot through my mind, but a couple stood out. Why did he ask me out if he already had a girlfriend? Or had I misinterpreted what he said? Or what's worse, had he just met her and decided he liked her better? As we got closer she flicked back her hair and smirked. I wanted to turn around and leave more than anything, but the feeling of Shane's hand on mine was too good to pass, and I would try to prolong it as long as I could, even if it didn't mean as much to him as it did to me.

**Cliffy. Uuuuh. Sorry. Id continue but my friends are wairting for me. buh-bye.**


	9. Chapter 8

"Mitch, this is Sandy," he turned around, "Sandy, this is Mitchie."

He smiled.

I smiled.

She looked me up and down. I felt her analyzing and I almost flinched away as she reached out to me.

"Nice to meet you," she said in a not so nice tone, stretching her hand to shake mine.

"Nice to meet you too."

Shane had a triumphant grin in his face. Oblivious as can be about what just happened. He tugged on my hand and pulled me in the direction we were walking. After we were he sat me down in one of the sofas in the far end, at the back, away from everybody. He asked what I wanted and left me to order. A couple minutes later he came back with our coffee, and he sat next to me, _still_ smiling.

"So, are you going to tell me who this Sandy girl is?"

He looked at me quizzically. "Oh! Yeah, well she's my sister," he replied as he suddenly understood what I meant.

"Your… sister?" I blushed. I couldn't believe I thought she was his girlfriend. They really looked quite similar.

"Yeah, who did you think she was? I swear I thought I told you about her."

"Uh, no one. I didn't really think, it was just weird seeing you there with her."

I took a sip of my coffee, and we continued talking. After we talked about Sandy, the topic of conversation became much lighter, and I realized we had a lot more in common than I thought.

We both liked classic rock, and 80's metal, but we found a guilty pleasure in more up beat music like MetroStation. We both play the guitar and piano, and sing _and_ write songs.

And he noticed the little things. Just like he noticed I wasn't like most girls, which was pretty obvious, he also noticed I never mentioned Jason's name, he was _my brother_, and he guessed things with him weren't exactly _okay_. He noticed I blushed a lot, and I wasn't very confident. I fiddled with my hair a lot and I didn't like whipped cream, which showed he cared.

He was like no other guy I went out with before. I held doors open for me, and he treated me like a lady, not just another guy. He noticed I didn't like being treated like a girl, and that I'd prefer to be treated like anyone else, that I didn't mind rude jokes or pranks and that I often played them myself, but he still respected me.

The thing that surprised me the most was how different he treated me to compared to how others treated me. This most likely had to do with the fact that he didn't know Jason. Jason was always very protective of me, every single guy knew that if they hurt me, they'd have to deal with him, so that in it self separated the brave ones from the crowd. Even after that, they knew they had to be extra careful, never to take things to far, and not to put me in danger of any kind. On the other hand, Shane did those things, but not because he had to or he'd have a broken nose the next morning. He did them because he was a decent guy, who knew how to treat a girl, and I loved that about him, it just made him that much better.

At about 10, after three hours of chatting, my mom called.

"Mitchie."

"Yes mom?"

"Uh, your father just picked up Jason from he airport, and they should be here in an hour. I think you should come home."

"Okay, I'll go," I grunted. I didn't want to see him, that would mean actually speaking to him, and there wasn't anything I was dreading more than that at the moment.

"Thanks Mitchie."

"Sure," I replied as I hung up.

Shane just stared at me as I put my phone in my bag again. He remained motionless, but he didn't look as happy as he did before.

"I have to go now," I told him really softly as I stood up.

"I know," he replied as he stood up.

I didn't really know what to do. I didn't want to leave him just yet. If only I'd have had a warning, then it would have been easier. On the other hand, I had to go home. I had to fix things with Jason. It had been too long. Far too long.

"It's quite late. I should probably take you home. Don't want you walking about on the streets this late."

"Uh, thanks."

He took my hand again, except this time he wasn't pulling me, he was walking slowly, right by my side. He remained silent the whole way to his car. He walked around with me, and opened my door for me. He then slid in to he car and turned it on. As we left the parking lot I glanced at him and he seemed deep in thought.

"I, uh, don't know where you live."

"Oh! Right. Uhm, I'll just guide you there. Just go straight until we reach the post office. Then turn right."

I guided him to my house. Not really saying anything on the way there. The streets were empty, and the silence started to get uncomfortable. I could hear the faint melody of a song that seemed familiar, but it was really low and I couldn't really put my finger on it. As we were getting near, I realized mom would ask about him, and I didn't really want to deal with it right now.

"Shane?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you just drop me here?" we were at the park. I could easily walk home, it would even take me 15 minutes. A huge improvement from walking all the way from the mall.

"I can drop you home. It's no problem really."

"No, it's just, if you do… well my mom will ask about you."

He didn't reply, and I got nervous. He had slowed down, but I could tell he was hurt.

"I can't deal with her right now, I've got my brother to worry about. You know?" I added.

He stopped the car completely, but he kept looking straight ahead.

I turned around in my seat so I could face him. He still didn't react.

"Thank you."

He turned around and smiled. "Any time."

We didn't move for a couple seconds.

"I had fun," he smiled.

"Me too," I replied.

He leaned over and kissed my cheek. "So, I'll see you again?"

I nodded. I couldn't find words. I couldn't utter a sound. I grabbed my keys and opened the door. I looked at him, and he smiled back.

"Bye," I whispered.

"Good bye Mitch."

At first I started walking, and couldn't heat the car pull away. I turned around and found him staring at me. I waved.

He waved.

I turned around again, and he left.

When I got him, I closed the door behind me, with a huge grin on my face.

"Who were you with?"

I turned around, "huh?"

"Who did you go out with?," my mom explained.

"Oh, yeah, just a friend."

She looked at me suspiciously, but let it go. "Jason should be here any minute."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I'm here,"

I went up to my room, and removed my makeup, I changed into a pair of sweats and put my hair up in a messy bun.

I flopped on my bed and took out my cell phone.

_**Shane! u busy? Mitchie.**_

_**Not rlly. I just got home.—Shane**_

_**Im bored ): Mitchie.**_

_**Aw. Ill send you a song I recorded the other day (:**_

I opened my laptop and logged on to Messenger. I opened my mail. 8 new emails. I erased the junk, and read an email Jason sent me. It wasn't much. Just saying hi, and he sent a picture of him and Nich in LA. I went back to my inbox and found Shane's email. The song was beautiful. I suppose the name of the song was _I gotta find you_ because that's the name of the file. It was sweet passion filled song. There was a faint tune played on a guitar, but it was mostly Shane's voice, and it was stunning.

_**Omg. That was so good. Mitchie.**_

_**Thanks (: u know, u hav to show me some of your stuff some day.—Shane**_

I heard the front door open, and I heard dad call mom.

_**Uh, ill think about that. Hey I have to go, my brothers here. Mitchie.**_

I put my phone in my pocket in case Shane replied and I stood up. I walked out the room and closed my door behind me. from the top of the stairs I saw mom hug Jason and then let go. He was struggling with his bags, but he didn't really seem to notice. He walked across the room and I felt the need to run up to him and hug him, but I contained myself. As he was about to go out the first step, he looked up and saw me.

He dropped the bags and broke into a huge grin.

**Im sorry. Im having an awful time. Im sick and im never home. And when inspiration suddenly strikes im not able to write… and when I am its like impossible. Gah. I don't even know what im doing…**


	10. Chapter 9

It must have been a reflex, because just as fast as the grin set upon his face, it disappeared.

I looked down at my feet, breaking the eye contact and stifled in place. Even if I couldn't see him, I knew him well enough to know he hesitated before I heard him storm up the stairs.

I was surprised when he didn't stop once he reached the top, and I was even more surprised when I felt his warm arms wrap around me. a smile crept up my face, and I snuggled into him. it was all better now. Jason was home, and it felt like whatever had happened was unimportant. The anger built up inside me disappeared as Jase continued to hold me close, not letting go.

I didn't even notice when I started crying and when he felt the moisture in his chest, he pulled away, took a look at my face and started rubbing circles in my arm, trying to comfort me. after a couple seconds he pulled me back into him and picked me up, taking me to his room. The room I hadn't set foot upon since he'd left. That place I missed so much.

He closed the door behind us with his foot, and walked towards the leather couch. He gently sat down without letting go of me, and set me so my head rested on his lap. He rubbed circles in my head, all the while humming a tune I never heard before.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Uh huh," I managed to let out as I snuggled into him. "Don't leave me again, ever," I begged as I tried to get a better hold of him.

We remained like that quite a long time. We didn't talk, even if we had a lot of catching up to do. No, that could wait. I missed him so much; I just needed to spend some time with him. After a while I started drifting off to sleep, but I didn't want to go to sleep. I wanted to stay with Jason, so I didn't move. And when he checked to see if I was still awake, I pretended to be sleeping. He carefully lifted my head off his lap and got up, placing a pillow under me. He headed out the room, and a couple seconds later I stood up, and walked over to his bed before lying down, too tired to walk all the way to my room.

When Jason walked in the room, I was already snuggling in his bed. he carefully set his bag next to the door, and walked over to me. he kneeled next to the bed, and reached over to me. He stroked my hair and I opened my eyes.

"Want me to take you to your bed?"

I shook my head.

He chuckled lightly. "Okay."

Jason carefully slipped into bed next to me, and he draped an arm over me, rubbing circles on my back until I fell asleep.

"Night Mitchie."

I was too tired to even reply. I'm not sure I was even fully conscious. I didn't understand how id gone so long without seeing him, and I wondered if it would ever get any easier.

**Ugh. Im a terrible really into the story, and I want to keep on writing… but im afraid I will take some time… I was pissed off my mind on new years and I kissed my best friend… and when I saw him yesterday I wanted to DIE. I wanted the ground to crack open and swallow me. and everyone kept teasing me… I hate my life. Anyways. I hope that wasn't too awkward. This story isn't exactly fictional.. and I based mitchie and jason's relationship on my relationship with my brother. And yes, we are that close. And I do sometimes crawl into bed with him when I cant sleep.. or I have a bad dream… I just don't want anyone to think theres anything going on between them because it was mentioned on the first chapter that they thought they were a couple until Jason said 'lil sis'… No incest. I promise. **

**Im cutting the chapter sort because the next one is just a conversation about mitchie and Jason. They catch up, they talk about summer.. and the band.. and the record deal. And for some reason… mitchie decides to keep a secret from jason… so what will it be?**

**It's the shortest chapter yet.. but I promise the next one will be worth the wait.**


	11. Chapter 10

I woke up, still in Jason's arms. I remembered all the sleepless nights I wished he was right next to me, to hold me, and comfort me and tell me everything would be better.

I tried not to move, he was bound to be tired and even if we had to talk I would let him sleep as much as he wanted.

When Jason finally woke up he smiled at me and hugged me again. He pulled away and sat up, leaning against the wall.

"We need to talk…"

"I missed you," he smiled.

"I missed you too," I sat up in front of him.

"What's wrong?" he looked at me, oblivious to what was happening.

"Well, nothings _wrong_," I replied. "It's just, well; we've been away from each other almost 2 months! And don't tell nothing happened, because there's no way the couple letters I received can compare to getting a record deal."

His facial expression suddenly changed. He looked, _guilty_? His head fell so he was looking at his feet now. Like he was getting ready for whatever was coming his way. I reached out and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, what's wrong? Look at me." seeing him like that was killing me, and I was regretting ever being angry at him, "Jase, come on. We just have some catching up to do," I smiled.

I tried my best to keep it light. I knew he wasn't exactly happy about not seeing me either, and he was busy with camp, but everything was Shane this, Nate that. It was getting on my last nerve. It felt like they took him away from me. Like I'd been replaced.

"Jase, I don't want you to think I'm mad at you, or take this the wrong way… but could you please stop talking so much about Nate and Shane?"

He tilted his head to the side, and looked at me. He furrowed his brow and remained like that. If I wasn't having such a hard time keeping it cool, I would've laughed.

"Well, no offense, but they're your friends, not mine. I don't really care that much about them," I added.

"But…" he opened and closed his mouth, never actually saying anything.

"Lets just talk about _your_ summer."

"Mitchie, I spent _my_ summer with them. Whatever I tell you is bound to include them. Besides, they will be your friends when you meet them."

"Can't we just omit them then?" I pleaded.

"Okay, I suppose we can," he sighed. "But I warn you, they will be around a lot."

I don't really know why that bothered me so much. I couldn't take it. They'd be around? So it wasn't enough that they took away my brother for the whole summer, they'd keep him away even longer? I turned bright red, and anger was just boiling over inside me, and I knew if I didn't leave now, I'd screw up things with Jason, and I'd hurt him.

"I don't care. I _don't_ want to meet them. I don't want to be their friend. Ill just be away when they're here." I walked away.

I needed to cool down. Just saying those few words was enough to hurt Jason. He wouldn't come up to me now. I'd be the one to take the first step. I'd have to apologize and ask if it was okay if we continued talking. We were nowhere near done, but I wasn't anywhere near ready to speak to him. I thought he catching up part would be the easiest. That actually talking about why he didn't tell me he won Final Jam, and why he didn't call form L.A. would be harder. It's not like he didn't have a signal there. And knowing he was with Nich was bound to set me off again.

I needed Shane. I needed to get out of the house and talk to someone. And since Jason wasn't really an option, and I didn't feel like talking to Sierra, I'd have to pray he wasn't busy.

_**Hey**_

I waited. I was in my room now. Out of Jason's way. I felt bad for what I did, but I knew I'd snap at him again if I saw him again. It was frustrating to see he didn't realize how much it hurt to talk about summer, and that I was trying my best, but they were beyond my best. I couldn't deal with it.

_**Mitch! How did everything go?**__**—Shane**_

How _did_ everything go. I couldn't even answer that. The truth? I didn't know.

_**Nt very well. R u busy?**_

Please let him not be busy, please, please, please.

_**Not rlly. Y?**_

_**Ill explain later. Can we meet up at the park u dropped me off? Mitchie.**_

_**Sure. Ill b there in 15. is everything alright?**_

_**Ill tell u there. Mitchie.**_

I was still wearing the sweats I slept in, so I quickly slipped on a yellow day dress, got some flip-flops. I washed my teeth and started walking down the stairs.

"Where are you going?"

I looked around, and I found dad looking at me.

"The park," I replied dryly. I didn't want to talk to him, I didn't want to deal with him, or anyone in the house for that matter.

"Your brother just got here."

"I _know_. I slept with him" I replied bitterly.

And with that, I left. I walked out the door and resisted the urge to run to the park. But it was even harder knowing not running meant not seeing Shane for longer. As I approached the park, I started scanning it. I _needed_ Shane.

I couldn't see him anywhere. I checked my cell phone. I was 10 minutes late. Had he left? No, he would never leave. Once I was in the park, I noticed his car was parked at the side, and then I noticed someone sitting on the grass, facing the other way. There was no one else, and I could recognize that hair anywhere. I walked up to him and without saying a word sat down next to him.

After a couple seconds I laid on my back, watching the clouds, and I could feel Shane's gaze on me. I propped myself up on my elbows and looked at him.

"Thank you," I smiled.

"For what?" he looked confused.

"For coming."

I went back to my previous position, and I put my arm over my face to shield my eyes from the sun. I had cooled down so much since I left the house. I felt like I could take anything as long as Shane was by my side. I could talk to Jason, without getting upset, I could even meet his friends. Nothing could go wrong with him.

"Here."

I removed my arm, to find Shane handing me a pair of white Wayfarers. I took them and slipped them on.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened?"

I smiled sheepishly. "Eventually."

He lay down next to me, only he was facing down, or to the side I suppose, since he had turned his head to look at me.

"I've got time."

"When he got home I was still a little bit angry at him, but he didn't care and he just hugged me. And I started crying because I couldn't believe I angry at him. And I slept in his bed because I was too tired to go to my room. We didn't really talk. I just missed him so much I wanted to be with him."

"So? What's wrong with that? I thought you were upset. It looks like things will get better."

I sat up. "Well, this morning we did talk. When we woke up, we just started talking about everything." I took a deep breath, "and I tried to be cool about it, I promise I did, but it was too much for me and I just snapped," there were tears running down my face.

"I'm sure he'll understand Mitch," he sat up as well, and pulled me into a tight hug.

"I just… thanks, I needed someone to talk to," I whispered as soon as I stopped crying.

"Don't worry about it."

He kissed the top of my head and stroked my hair, and didn't let go. We stayed like that for a long time. I'm not sure how long, but when we did pull apart, we could see kids coming to the park, and a couple minutes later his phone went off.

"Hello?"

"Yeah. What's up?"

"I'll be there as soon as I can." He glanced over at me.

"Okay. See you later mate."

He looked into my eyes, and held my hands. There were so many emotions flickering through his eyes it was impossible to even count them. Suddenly his eyes lost their sheen, and I could tell that most of all he was sad.

"I have to go," he whispered, not breaking the eye contact.

"I know. I wish you didn't though."

"Want me to drive you home?" he closed his eyes.

I shook my head. "you can go. I want to stay here," I replied smiling.

He hugged me, clinging on to me, and when he let go, I reached up and kissed his cheek.

"You'll call me if you need anything right?"

"Right," I replied. A shit-eating grin on my face.

He hugged me one last time, only this hug was brief. He turned around and walked to his car, and I watched him drive off. Even if I was completely calmed down, I wouldn't be able to face Jason right now. I needed time to think things through.


	12. Chapter 11

As I opened the door, i heard voices hushing and as I walked past the kitchen door, I saw Jason, mom and dad sitting in the table. I didn't even stop moving; I just looked down and kept on walking towards my room.

I tried to occupy my time with anything I could. I drew a few things, I tried to work on the melodies of a couple songs, or even listen to my iPod. But nothing would do it. The anxiety to finally talk to Jason and put things out on the open was eating me from the inside. It had only been an hour since Shane left, and I couldn't take it anymore. I missed him terribly.

And as if on cue Shane texted me.

_**Hey. Busy?—Shane**_

It was like he read my mind. Just the moment I thought I wouldn't be able to take it any more, when I thought I would cave, he did. And it made me smile.

_**No. r u done? Mitchie.**_

Suddenly, the minutes passing by didn't seem to be as bad as before.

_**Not relly. But im bored. Nathaniel here is driving me nuts.—Shane**_

_**Nathaniel huh. Well, y dnt u jus leave? Do sumthin else u kno? Mitchie.**_

I waited for his reply. I started counting in my mind, but I lost track as I heard my ringtone.

_**i… kinda cant.**_

I found that weird. Shane didn't seem like the kind of person to be influenced by others or pressured into anything, but I let it go. I'd ask about it some other time, it wasn't really important right now.

A couple minutes later, I heard someone coming up the stairs, and the thought of it being Jason made my heart stop. For I second I didn't even think about Shane. he could wait. I could make something up.

I ran to the door, and as I put my hand on the cool handle, I hesitated. What if it wasn't him? what if it was mom or dad?

It didn't matter. Whoever it was, it meant they were done downstairs and I could talk to Jason now.

As I walked out the door, I caught a glimpse of Jason walking into his room. It was just his back, and he was closing his door behind himself.

I walked to him slowly, giving him time to close the door behind him.

I knocked twice.

"Jase?"

He took a while to open the door. I would have normally found it normal, if he had to get up from bed, or whatever he was doing, but he was right behind the door. he opened the door, he peeked out, and stared at me.

"I'm sorry about earlier. It's just really hard on me, but I'm working on it, I promise."

He opened up his door and stepped back so I could come in. I walked slowly, and flopped into the sofa. In the mean time Jason closed the door behind him, and walked to his bed. He sat down, facing me, and waited for me to start speaking.

"I'm really sorry, you know that, right?"

"Yeah," he replied in a really low voice.

"Look, can we just skip the whole camp thing? I haven't heard form you in so long! How are you?"

"I've… been fine Mitchie. Nich says hi," he grinned. "He's thinking of coming over sometime."

I blushed.

"Oh, uh, that's cool."

"Yeah," he chuckled.

"Oh shut up Jay!" I threw a pillow at him.

He caught it before it hit him, and threw it to the side. Away from me.

"So, you haven't told me anything about _your_ summer."

"Yeah. Nothing really interesting, you know? I met this girl Sierra. She's pretty cool, you'd get along with her. And, well I just worked on my music. I wrote a bunch of songs. I spent most of my days at the park, sketching at first. And then I started writing, and working on the melodies in the evenings."

"So, that's all you did?"

"No, of course not." I giggled, "I went to the mall a couple times. I met this boy, Oliver. He's really nice…"

"A boy huh." He looked at me skeptically.

"He's just a friend. He's really nice. He works at the music store, I bought 'Black Ice', and this Supertramp CD I never heard from before, 'Indelibly Stamped' its good," I added, trying to distract him from the boy topic. "Ohmigod! And you wont believe the CD I found."

I ran out of his room, on a quest to find my new The Doors CD. When I found it I ran back to Jason, a shit-eating grin on my face, and the CD on my hand, holding it up to him so he could see it.

His eyes widened.

His mouth dropped.

And he looked like a fish gasping for air as he tried to utter a sound.

"I-it's 'L-li-live at th-the Matrix 1976'"

I nodded.

He grinned.

And I silently let out the breath I was holding. I was sure he wouldn't remember about Oliver. And I didn't even consider telling him about Shane. he would be on my case for so long it would be torture.

"Whe-where'd you get it?" he asked _ogling_ the CD.

"At the music store," I grinned.

"So, Jase, I was meaning to ask you, why didn't you tell me you won Final Jam when you called?"

He looked at me confused. And then his face lit up.

"Oh, that. Well, they had just announced the winners, and there were some music producers there. As soon as we got off stage they told us about the record deal, and since mom and dad weren't there I needed their permission. And no one had signal, so it was an achievement on itself to get the payphone. And when we did, well, lets just say the rest of the campers weren't exactly happy about it, considering I cut in line. I didn't really have much time before they pulled me away, I could tell, so I just needed to ask mom for permission to go down to L.A. and then I could call from there, and explain everything," he said in one breath.

Suddenly, I felt stupid. It was so unlike Jason to not tell me, but it was also a completely Jason thing to do to try not to upset people. I knew him, why couldn't I consider the fact that maybe he was in a hurry, or people were waiting in line, I _knew_ campers were always using the phone.

"And then I wouldn't take your calls when you called from L.A.," I added ashamed.

Jason came over to me, and sat down next to me. he pulled me into a hug and started stroking my hair.

"Hey, hey," he crooned in my ear. "It's okay now. Don't worry about it."

But I couldn't not worry about it. Everything was fine between me and Jason now, but I couldn't forgive myself for bringing all this upon us. If I had thought about what was going on, and had kept a cool head then nothing would have happened. We wouldn't have got in a fight, and I would have known about Camp Rock and Final Jam sooner. Who knows, maybe I would have even been able to go down to L.A. to visit Nich too.

"I'm sorry."

"Hey. I said it's fine, so stop saying that."

We were just hanging out in Jason's room. He was playing this new song he was working on but couldn't really get finished when my phone went off.

_**Hey Mitchie. Wanna come over later? Si.**_

As much as I wanted to hang out with Jason, Sierra was my friend too, and I couldn't just ignore her now that he was back.

"Hey Jase. Are you doing anything later?"

"Not really. Why?"

"Oh, nothing. Sierra just asked me if I wanted to come over, and I was wondering if you wanted to come."

"Oh. Sure. If it's okay with her."

_**Hey Sierra. Can Jason come 2? Mitchie.**_

_**Sure. Si.**_

"Okay Jase," I smiled, "we're going after lunch."

"Cool."

Suddenly my phone went off again, and I wondered why Sierra was texting again, but I was surprised to find it wasn't from her.

_**Hey, u wanna hang out later?—Shane**_

Ugh. Why did they both want to hang out at the same time? I didn't want to say no, but I couldn't exactly back out from going to Sierra's now. And I couldn't really tell him to come over now that Jase was coming too.

_**): Im sorry. I cant. Mitchie.**_


	13. Chapter 12

"So, should we drive to Sierra's house?"

"Do you have your license? I'm too lazy to get mine from my room," I smiled sheepishly.

He opened his wallet. "Yeah."

He stood up, and walked outside. As he went through the door, he grabbed one of the key chains hanging next to the door. He slipped into his blue Ford Mustang Shelby **(A/N: we can just pretend he used the money from the record deal)** and started it up as I closed my door.

On the way to Sierra's I told Jason a little bit about her. At first he seemed keen about it, asking questions about her, showing some interest. But by the time we were at her house, all the interest seemed to have vanished.

I rung the bell. A couple seconds later we were greeted by her mom. She told us Sierra was in her room, and we could go upstairs.

I knocked on the door.

"Come in."

I opened the door and walked in, Jason following close behind me.

Sierra was sitting on her bed, with her legs crossed and with her laptop on her lap. She looked up, and saw us, and I swear that for just a minute, her face lit up. At the same time, Jason looked up from the floor to face her, and he didn't seem too pleased either. I didn't really pay much attention to it, I was sure once they got to know each other they'd get along fine. Besides, my life was too good at the moment to spoil it worrying about them. Jason was back, I had a friend – a _good_ friend I could rely on – and I had Shane.

The rest of the afternoon didn't go that well either. Whenever I started talking to Sierra, Jason would find something to distract himself, and whenever I talked to him, Sierra would go on her computer or something. It was like they were trying to avoid each other.

I decided to cut the evening short, whatever was going on I could find out later, it was just too hard pretending nothing was wrong, when the evidence was right there in your face, and it was getting on my last nerve.

"Hey Jase, mind if we head home early? I'm beat."

He looked up, startled. "Oh, yeah sure. Lets go."

He stood up, without even saying bye, and waited for me.

"Bye Si. I'll call you tomorrow."

The ride home wasn't exactly comfortable. It wasn't like Jason to keep things from me, so I knew there was a reason why he hadn't told me, and I also knew that he would – eventually.

I just wanted _eventually_ to come sooner than later. I didn't want to press him either. Which made things even harder, because in not pressuring him I had to wait for him to make the first move, which was excruciatingly painful. I decided there was nothing I could do but wait, and in an attempt to distract myself I tried texting Shane.

_**HELP!**_

Thinking about Shane made me forget about everything else. Suddenly Sierra and Jason not getting along wasn't s important. She was _my_ friend. Not his, so what if they didn't like each other. I could keep both sides of my life separated.

_**Mitch? U ok?—Shane**_

_**My brother positively **_**hates**_** my bff.**_

I jumped out of the car. By the time I sent the text to Shane, we were in front of our house, and the car was no longer moving so I took that chance and ran for it. Once inside my room, safely away from everything, I was finally able to relax. As I sat on my bed I heard Jason's car pull away, which meant he didn't even come inside. I wanted to call him, check how he was doing, but it seamed like a better idea to just give him some time.

_**Im sure thats not tru.**_

_**But it is!**_

I knew I was all alone, since Jason had left, so I decided to go downstairs and fix myself something to eat. Half way through my peanut butter sandwich I spotted a box of Graham crackers in one of the cupboards, and I took it upstairs to my room once I was done with my snack.

_**I wish I could help… but I don't really see how.**_

_**Do u hav any plans?**_

I couldn't take my hands off my cell phone. It all depended on what he replied. If he said yes, I'd be stuck here all alone for the rest of the day, if he said no; we could do something, maybe go out for dinner, or even just hang out.

_**No. I was just going to watch a movie and go to sleep. Im home alone for the night.—Shane**_

I didn't know what to reply. I could just ask him if I could come over, but I didn't want to sound too forward, but I wasn't sure he'd suggest something on his own.

_**Y did u ask?—Shane**_

_**I wantes 2 kno if u wanted to do something. Mitchie.**_

If he didn't invite me over id just leave it at that. I didn't want to push it, and that would mean he wasn't really interested, so why make a fool of myself. I just waited.

_**Oh. Uh, I dnt rlly feel lyk going out. wanna come over? We can order sum food and watch a movie.—Shane**_

I couldn't believe it. Could he get nay more perfect? He always knew exactly what to say to make things better.

_**Sure. Where do u live?**_

_**Uh. I can pick u up. The park? 15 min.—Shane**_

_**Okay. Ill be there. Mitchie.**_

**Im not exactly sure what will happen with Jason and sierra, but the next chapter should be mitchie and shane at shane's place… and it should be pretty fluffy.**

**- kim.**


	14. Chapter 13

**Okay. So.**** A couple things about the story. Im not sure whats going to happen between Jason and sierra.. I don't even know why they don't like each other…. It was just either that, or make them like eachother… and the whole my best friend is dating my brother thing seemed kind of repetitive considering mitchie is dating shane… so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know. and the whole mitchies parents letting her go to shanes… well, they don't know shes going… yet. I hadnt actually thought about that until it was mentioned by utmy123 and well.. I suppose she just goes without telling them.**

**Aaaaand, I wanted to thank onigiiri for reviewing every single chapter, and encouraging me from the beginning (:**

As soon as I sent the message, I stood up, picked up my purse and left. I took my time walking to the park, I wasn't in a hurry. Sure, I wanted to see Shane, but knowing I'd see him soon, and that I'd be spending time with him made me feel better, at ease. I didn't even bother telling anyone I was going out.

As soon as I was able to see the park, I could see Shane's car. He was standing besides his door, waiting for me. As soon as he saw me, he flashed a huge grin and walked over to where I was.

"Hey."

"Hi," I replied.

I couldn't keep the shit-eating grin off my face. Just seeing him put me in a good mood. He got even closer to hug me, and once we pulled apart he walked over to open the passenger door for me. He proceeded to walk around the car, and into the drivers seat. He smiled at me and started the car.

The drive wasn't very long. It wasn't short either. It only took a couple minutes, but it's not like I'd willingly walk all the way to Shane's house, or back.

Even if I was already out of the car, he walked over to my side, and walked with me to the door. He let us in, and we went straight to the kitchen.

"Do you want anything to drink?" he asked searching the fridge.

"Some milk would be nice," I replied, smiling.

He turned around, to look at me with a puzzled expression, but got the milk out anyway. He poured me a glass, and got a can of coke for himself, and we just stood there for a couple seconds.

"So, where's your room?"

He looked at me puzzled. Completely silent.

"Uh… u-upstairs."

I made my way to the stairs and turned around to check if he was following me. Then I went upstairs and waited for him to show me which door belonged to his room. He walked past me and reached for the handle on the door to the far left, but before he opened it he turned around.

"It's a bit untidy," he said. "And you must promise not to say anything about it," he added quickly.

I just nodded and walked towards him, placing my hand over his and opening the door.

To say the room was untidy would be an understatement. You could barely tell what color the rug was because it was covered by clothes, and the bed was unmade. The desk was covered by papers of all sorts and his wardrobe was almost empty. The only part of the room that didn't look like a hurricane had just gone through it was the corner where his guitars were.

There was a cherry red Gibson Les Paul, a silver Fender Telecaster, a black Fender Stratocaster and an acoustic guitar. The each had their own stand, and there was a 2 meter radius around them, where there was nothing but the guitars.

"Someone likes guitars."

When I turned around I found Shane, standing up behind me, looking down at the floor and blushing. I couldn't help but find the whole thing hilarious.

I giggled.

I couldn't believe it. I immediately covered my mouth with my hand, and I felt my face getting hot. I was about to apologize when Shane looked up at me.

"I would have cleaned up, but your visit was kind of last minute."

"That's okay. I don't mind."

He grinned at me, and motioned towards the guitars.

"You like them?"

"Uh, yeah," I said. Was it not obvious?

"You know, I still haven't heard you sing."

My jaw dropped. And suddenly I didn't really want to be here. But Shane was right in front of me, and as much as I would have liked to postpone it, I would eventually end up singing for him.

I walked to the acoustic guitar and picked it up. I settled on Shane's bed and started strumming it.

_She's never alone, _

_because she's scared of what she might say to herself  
Always drinking in the backroom of the bar where everyone turns in  
A half-hearted grin  
She won't be afraid  
__as long as that prescription keeps going through  
And all the happy pills  
__make her look like cardboard cut out of someone,  
I use to learn from  
But on the phone,  
__she's telling everyone,  
that there was a blue sky,  
__she left behind  
And there's a place that no one knows about,  
Away from integrity  
__she writes a book in her head that nobody will read  
Whatever you say,  
__please don't talk about the time when she was young  
Apparently that was a different person  
__and so long ago it's strange to me,  
there's no history  
But there's a past and she's telling everyone  
__It must be a garden,  
that wouldn't grow  
With roots of shame,  
__too sensitive to blame to herself as we watch he__r drown,  
I can't save the queen without a kingdom or a crown  
Somewhere in this lonely game of sympathy there is a selfish dream  
That makes me sick  
Standing on the high wire while you're on the ground  
To you what is dangerous is safe and sound...  
You let me down_

Once I was done singing, I continued to strum some chords, and after a while I got tired of waiting for a response so I looked up at Shane.

He looked at me, but he wasn't really looking _at_ me. I could tell. He had an empty look in his eyes, and his mouth was open, like he wanted to talk but no words came out. I waited a couple seconds, and he finally snapped out of it.

"Wow."

I didn't really know what to say.

"That… that was really good Mitch."

"Than…"

"Did you write it yourself?"

I looked down and nodded. I didn't really know why I chose that song. I wrote it so long ago. It was the only song before that summer I ever wrote by myself. It was a dark time for me, a period I'd rather forget. It's not something I'm proud of, I tried to… harm myself, and Jason noticed. And he talked some sense into me. That's when we started to get close. I used to feel like a stranger to the family, like I didn't belong. But he changed it, he made it all better.

"I'd rather not talk about that," I whispered. I hoped he listened because I didn't want him to press the subject, but I also hoped he did, that he showed he cared.

"Okay, well, if you ever want to talk about it, you know I'm here for you right?"

"Yeah," I replied standing up and walking towards him.

When I was next to him I stopped, I didn't really know where to go but I wanted to get out. I kept the guitar in my hand, and as I looked at Shane he smiled. It felt good to be here, with him. There was something about him that made things feel right.

It took me by surprise when he took my hand in his. He gave it a little squeeze and then turned around and tugged on it as he went to the hall, down the stairs and into the living room. He sat down on the couch and pulled me down with him.

"So, since I sang for you, I figured you should play something for me too."

"Well, I usually play in a band, which makes it hard for me to play alone, but I suppose it's reasonable."

_The river of doubt gave birth to a beautiful stone  
And in my hand I held it and I knew I was on my own  
So I picked it up and held it to the sky  
And in my reflection, I knew I was all alone  
Then I saw this girl with the most beautiful hair  
She had it wrapped around her for clothes she did not wear  
I asked her for a lock and she complied, after leaving  
Gorgeous footsteps in the sand as if she didn't care  
Well, she was the prettiest girl I ever saw  
The stones lay still without a flaw  
The feelings I had defied the law  
As I came to, I went to  
And I took a look, a look down the road  
To see a badger and a one eyed toad  
They didn't say a word, they just looked at me  
With that wise old look of the old  
Then I went to down to town  
To my favorite merry-go-round  
To the places where magic horses fly  
And you seldom see a frown  
but then I stole a __ring from the flying horses  
and I can't begin to explain how  
I stole a ring from the flying horses  
and it's all rusty now  
I stole a ring from the flying horses  
and I can't begin to explain how  
I stole a ring from the flying horses  
and it's all rusty now  
You see 'cause that stone fell through my pocket  
And that lock of hair flew away with the wind  
If you chance to meet upon either  
Well you know where they've been  
But don't pick them up or try to find me  
They're much happier to be on their own  
Beauty like that knows no home  
And then if you take a look, a look down the road  
You'll see a badger and a one eyed toad  
They won't say a word they'll just look at you  
With that wise old look of the old  
__but then I stole a __ring from the flying horses  
and I can't begin to explain how  
I stole a ring from the flying horses  
and it's all rusty now  
I stole a ring from the flying horses  
and I can't begin to explain how  
I stole a ring from the flying horses  
and it's all rusty now  
I stole a ring from the flying horses  
and I can't begin to explain how  
I stole a ring from the flying horses  
and it's all rusty now  
__I stole a __ring from the flying horses  
and I can't begin to explain how  
I stole a ring from the flying horses  
and it's all rusty now_

It was my turn to be speechless. I had heard him sing before. That recording he sent me the other day, _I Gotta Find You_. But it was nothing compared to actually hearing him sing, and watching him play the guitar a couple centimeters away from me.

He put the guitar on the floor, resting on the side of the couch, and picked up the remote.

He turned on the TV and The Simpsons came up.

"Oh, don't change it!"

We watched the show in silence, and after a while I started getting tired. Suddenly Shane's phone went off, but he ignored the call. He put it back in his pocket and put his arm around me. I snuggled into him a bit and started to doze off when someone knocked on the door.

He got up, and told me he would be back in a minute.

"Hey Jay," I heard him say before he closed the door to speak to this Jay person outside. A couple minutes later I heard the door open and close again, and he was sitting next to me once again.

Not long after the interruption I found myself not quite awake, and decided it was time to leave. As I sat up straight I noticed Shane was almost asleep himself. I'd have to call mom.

I took out my phone and dialed the now familiar number.

"Hey mom," I said.

Shane turned around to look at me, and I smiled back.

"Can you please pick me up?"

Shane looked confused. 'You look tired, you should rest' I mouthed to him.

"Yeah, I'm at a friends house. The address is…"

I looked at him this time pleading for help.

He gave me his address and some directions and I hung up the phone.

"I could have taken you home you know?"

"I do. But you look beat. And you should sleep."

"Well, wont she say anything about you being here with _me_?"

Crap. I hadn't thought of that.

**Im super upset. I only got a b on English first language and English literature on my igcses… which are like like the gcses or o levels… whatever u call them. Ugh. I don't know what im going to do now. I was expecting at least an a. and now I cant do English a1 higher for the ib. which means ill have to do a2 higher.. and Spanish a1. even if I did worse in Spanish. Stupid rules. I got a b on Spanish first language and a c for Spanish lit. I want to cry. This sucks. I NEEDED that a. **

**Btw the song is let me down by no use for a name. no I don't own. Sigh. I wish…**

**I don't own the guitars either. I do have a Gibson les paul cherry red guitar… but I still don't own them.**

**The second song is flying horses by dispatch. I didn't really know what song might have been suitable for shane to sing, but I didn't want it to be all happy after mitchies song…. So yeah…**

**Oh and that's the longest chapter so far. 2000 words. Without the a/ns.**


	15. Chapter 14

"So, are you going to tell me who you were with?"

Damn. I thought I was getting away with it. I looked at her, but she continued to look straight ahead. I shifted in my place, and lowered my glance. I pushed back a strand o hair from my face.

"Well, I was with some fr-friends."

"Ye-yes," I added as an afterthought, and she looked at me expectantly.

I needed to get myself together. She would see right through me if I didn't. she knew me too well.

"this girl I met, Sandy. That's her house," I explained. And I felt proud of myself. It wasn't a complete lie, and I could tell she bought it.

"very well…"

But she didn't finish her sentence. We were home already and she just turned off the ignition, and slipped out of the car, leaving me behind, all by myself.

Once inside, I glanced at the clock, 10 minutes till midnight. Time to go to bed, after all I only had a day left before school started.

Hate Sundays. I really do. Most people find it weird that I do. Other hate Mondays. It's the first day of the week, and you have to go back to school again, you have to wake up early, and they are usually boring. Nut what about Sundays? It's the _last_ day of the week, and completely useless. You don't do anything, and you cant really go out either, because there's school the next day, so you have to wake up early which means you have to go to sleep early, and its usually the day you have to do all your homework because you didn't do it before. Which means you are pretty much stuck inside the house.

_**R u doing anything today?—Shane**_

_**Not relly. xxMitchie.**_

_**Wanna hang out?—Shane**_

_**Cant. Sorry. Ive got school tomorrow. xxMitchie.**_

_**Aww. (pouts)**_

It was the first time I didn't really mind it being Sunday. Sure, it sucked that I couldn't go out with Shane, but just texting him made things better. School would be torture, not being able to see him, and being stuck in boring old classrooms. I hadn't really talked to Sierra since I left her house the other day, and I decided it was a good excuse calling her to ask how she was going to school tomorrow, maybe I could give her a lift, but what I really wanted to know was if she was still upset about Jason, and if it was going to affect out friendship. Okay, I admit it, and a tiny part of me wanted to know what happened between them.

In the end, Sierra wasn't all that upset, so shed pick me up the next morning, then I'd go home with her, and we'd hang out for a while. Maybe I oculd even see Shane after that if I was quick.

_**Hey. R u doing anything tomorrow evening? Mitchie.**_

_**Ive got some things to do in the afternoon, but it shouldn't take long. Y?—Shane**_

_**Im going over to my friends house after school, and I was wondering if you wanted to do something after that…**_

_**Oh. Sure. Ill try. (:**_

_**Okay. I have to go to bed now. .**_

_**Sweet dreams.—Shane.**_

**Im writing a new fic, its cool were just friends, and I would love it if you guys took a look at it. Its only got one chapter right now… but Im writing the second one already. I actually wrote it and everything… but im used to just hitting ctrl+s and it saving… but it seems my mom's laptop's settings are in Spanish so I have to press ctrl+g which means it didn't save.. and I closed it. And I almost hit myself. Its sooo stupid. But anyways… ill try to write it as soon as possible…. Just not right now. Im too angry at the moment.**


	16. Chapter 15

I groaned as I flung my arm over my bedside table, knocking down my alarm clock into the floor.

I groaned again. It didn't make it shut up.

After just a couple seconds trying to ignore the annoying beeping, I got up, silenced it, and went into the bathroom. I took a cold shower, and wrapped a towel around my hair as I made my way to my walk-in-closet to choose what I would wear.

I settled for a high waisted black pencil skirt and a white body-con wife beater, a pair of black leather converse low-tops**(A/N: I saw them in a store last week, and I fell in love with them. It's a shame I cant wear converse. I almost cried.)** and a thin oversized grey cardigan.

I quickly dried up my hair with my towel, applied some anti-frizz serum and pulled it into a messy bun. I ran downstairs, put a loaf of bread into the toasted and poured myself a glass of milk. I drank the milk and buttered my toast, and as I was getting up Jason walked into the kitchen.

"Mornin' Jase."

"Mmh," was his reply. I wasn't even sure he was completely awake.

He poured himself some milk, and sat down on the table, only to have his head drop on it and go back to sleep.

I held back the laughter and walked out of the house eating my breakfast.

I gripped onto my school bag as I paced up and down the front lawn as I waited for Sierra. If she didn't pick me up soon, we'd be late for school. And I didn't want to be late for school. Not on the first day.

I started to panic. I found it hard to breath. Maybe Sierra was upset. Maybe she didn't like me, and she planned to stand me up. Maybe she decided she hated me for whatever happened between Jason and her.

Tears began to well up in my eyes.

"Please pick up, please, please, please."

I waited for Shane to answer.

"Hello?" he didn't sound very happy. Or awake.

"Hey," I whispered. "It's me, Mitchie."

"Mitch? Hey. What's wrong? Is everything alright?" he asked. He sounded really worried. Like he was freaking out.

"Uh," I hesitated. I hadn't actually thought about what I was going to say. I just needed to hear Shane's voice to calm down.

"You can tell me."

"You know S…" just as I was about tell Shane, I spotted Sierra's car turning around the corner. Suddenly I felt stupid and immature. I blushed. "Actually. No. it's nothing. Everything's fine. I'm sorry I woke you up?"

"You sure?" he asked hesitant.

"Yes. Of course I'm sure."

"Okay Mitch. See you later."

"Yeah, see you later. I'm sorry."

I shut my phone just as sierra was pulling up next to me.

* * *

Sierra and I walked to the office to get our schedule. I groaned. History first lesson. Great.

Sierra ended up being in most of my classes, which was good, and I basically kept to myself the rest of the day. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

I was glad I was meeting Shane later. The truth is the day would have dragged on a lot more if I hadn't got something to look forward to, and I was suddenly surprised as I walked into the cafeteria, which meant I only had 2 more lessons before the end of school. Double English. With Sierra. That would be fun. I always found English to be an easy subject, and I was excited to see what we were doing this year.

Sierra and I made our way to the back of the class and sat on the far right. We didn't really pay much attention after we received our syllabus. We'd be reading Wuthering Heights. We'd both read it already so we were kind of bored, and we started talking about later. When sierra asked if I wanted to stay over for dinner I remembered Shane, and I told her I couldn't, I had to leave early. I could tell she was a bit disappointed, but I promised id make it up for her on the weekend, and as the bell rung we gathered our things and walked to sierras car.

This would be interesting. I was finally going to find out what was going on between her and Jason! I couldn't wait.

**Filler chapter. I know. Sorry. Completely uneventful and boring. But I promise ill make the enxt one good, when I figure it out.**

**Uhh. Yeah. Well, basically unless I suddenly find inspiration and decide what happened between sierra and Jason, next update will take a long time. I have no idea what it will be. Not even close. So if anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please let me know. Again, thanks for reading. (:and reviewing those who did. **

**Oh, and im looking for a beta, so if anyone is interested, please let me know. :D**


	17. Chapter 16

"So basically, you used to have a crush on this boy Stephen, and he was a friend of Jason's, and he made fun of you when you tried to ask Steven to the 'Ladies Choice Dance'," I clarified.

Sierra nodded.

"Okay, so that explains why _you_ hate him. Why does _he_ hate _you_?"

"Uh…" she blushed and immediately looked down. "Well, I – uh – kinda punched him in the face?"

"Oh my," I giggled. "I remember that day! That was _you_!?"

She nodded again, but this time she blushed as well.

We just hung out in Sierra's room gossiping and reading magazines until about 5, when Shane suddenly popped into my mind. I turned around to find Sierra reading something in Mandarin, and decided it was time to go. I'd leave and once I was walking, I'd call Shane and ask him to meet me at the park.

"Sierra?"

She held out her hand to me for like two seconds and then looked up at me.

"Yeah?"

"Uh, I have to go now…"

"Oh! Right! I almost forgot."

She put the magazine down, and stood up and walked with me to the door. Once we said goodbye I started walking and after a couple minutes, I decided it would be a good idea to call Shane.

"Hello?"

"Hey Shane."

"Mitchie! Hey!"

"Say, are you still busy with that thing you said you had to do?"

"Wh-oh, no. I'm done," I could practically hear the grin in his voice.

"Cool! Wanna meet me up at the park? I'm on my way there right now."

"Yeah, sure."

"Great, I'll see you then."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Even a conversation as meaningless as that could make my day. I couldn't wait to see Shane, and I wished I could get to see him even faster.

Once I got to the park, I quickly looked around, but couldn't find Shane, or his car. I decided to go to a more secluded area and lie down on the grass; if Shane couldn't find me, he could just call and ask where I was.

After a couple minutes starring at the sky, I closed my eyes and just listened to the things surrounding me.

I could stll hear the boys playing in the park, where I first arrived, but I was pretty sure I couldn't see them if I tried, and they couldn't see me either. I felt the warm breeze in my face, and a few birds singing, and if I really strained my ears, I could hear the cars passing by, but I couldn't make anything out of it really, I was too far away.

"Hey there."

I opened one eye. Shane was standing next to me with two Starbucks cups, and I couldn't help but grin. I promise I didn't even hear him get closer.  
"You know, it wasn't exactly easy finding you."

My grin got even bigger.  
"I'm sorry I took a while, I needed some coffee, and I thought you might like some too," he proceeded to sit down next to me. "Caramel frapuccino, right?"

I sat up nodding, with a huge smile plastered on my face. I took the cup from him, and had a sip.

He. Put. Cinnamon. In. It.

My mouth dropped, and he just grinned at me before taking a sip from his own drink.

We just sat there in a comfortable silence, and once I was done with my coffee, he stood up, and offered his hand to help me up. I followed him to his car and we got inside.

"So, are you telling me where you're taking me?"

"Not really," he grinned, "I want to show you something, but I kinda wanted it to be a surprise," he explained.

We drove off, and after a while I just got lost in my own thought, not really looking at was around me, or where we were going.

I felt something warm on my hand, and it made me jump slightly. I was completely distracted from my thoughts, and when I looked down I saw Shane's hand wrapped around my own. I looked up, only to find Shane looking straight ahead, his face slightly red – although that might have been my imagination. I moved my hand a bit, so that our fingers were now intertwined, and I gave his hand a slight squeeze in reassurance. I swear I saw him exhale the breath he seemed to be holding. His face returned to his original shade, and he quickly glanced at me smiling, looking relieved.

"We're almost there."

"We're almost _where_?"

He just grinned.

**Okay, sooo short chapter. I know. Sorry, and I have to apologize for taking so long, but I promise ill update soon. It doesn't feel quite right, theres something about it that keeps nagging me. I might end up changing this, but I felt like I aught to post something, so I kinda forced myself to write…**

**Anyways, thanks to my new, an btw AWEOSME beta (: Kendra. **

**I hope you guys like it…**


	18. Chapter 17

**Hope you guys like it. I actually skipped school, and had nothing to do once I was done studying for my chem exam.. So I started writing. **

**-GOT THE BEST GRADE IN THE CLASS!- *insert 8,231,487,514 hyper smiley faces here***

I suddenly noticed Shane move out the corner of my eye. I turned around and was able to see him getting his guitar out of its case.

_There she goes_

My breath caught. My mind racing. What was this about, I wondered. surely inspiration had come from somewhere. But, _where?_ __

There she goes again  
Racing through my brain  
And I just can't contain  
This feeling that remains

There she goes  
There she goes again  
Pulsing through my veins  
And I just can't contain  
This feeling that remains

There she goes  
There she goes again  
Racing through my brain  
And I just can't contain  
This feeling that remains

I couldn't move. My gaze was fixed straight ahead. My eyes had started to water as I couldn't even blink. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary; most wouldn't even bother with the scene in front of them.

_There she goes  
There she goes again  
She calls my name,  
Pulls my train  
No one else could heal my pain  
And I just can't contain  
This feeling that remains_

There she goes  
There she goes again  
Chasing down my lane  
And I just can't contain  
This feeling that remains

There she goes  
There she goes  
There she goes

To me, it meant the world. It went beyond explanation.

Shane set down his guitar, and smiled shyly.

"I wrote that after I met you," he lowered his head, looking at the ground.

"I loved it."

Shane looked up at me, a shimmer in his eyes I hadn't seen before. He smiled and blushed.

"I always come here when I feel like writing. I love it," he admitted.

I forced myself to look away from Shane, and stare at the sunset. I didn't know if he had planned it, but I honestly didn't care. The fact that he was willing to share this place with me made me anxious. It had to mean something.

Trusting someone with something like this was a big thing. When you write songs you need to feel safe, and most of the time, people write in private. Opening up and freely disclosing the location of such place wasn't something you did every day, or to just anyone.

I reached out for Shane's guitar, stopping just before I was touching it.

"M-may I?" I asked hesitantly.

He looked me in the eye, dumbfounded, and just nodded.

I started strumming the now so familiar chords, not really finding the courage to let Shane hear the song. It was very personal, and I hadn't showed it to anyone yet. I looked up at him, trying to find some reassurance, to find his eyes glazed over, just staring ahead, probably through me, lost in thought.

_I've always been the kind of girl  
That hid my face  
So afraid to tell the world  
What I've got to say  
But I have this dream  
Right inside of me  
I'm gonna let it show, it's time  
To let you know  
To let you know_

_This is real, this is me  
I'm exactly where I'm suppose to be, now  
Gonna let the light, shine on me  
Now I've found, who I am  
There's no way to hold it in  
No more hiding who I want to be  
This is me_

I looked at Shane, trying to get a peak at what his reaction would be once I was done, and I can honestly say it was a futile attempt. His expression was unreadable, once again deep in thought. I took a deep breath, and stopped contemplating the worse.

_Do you know what it's like  
To feel so in the dark  
To dream about a life  
Where you're the shining star  
Even though it seems  
Like it's too far away  
I have to believe in myself  
It's the only way_

_This is real, This is me  
I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, now  
Gonna let the light, shine on me  
Now I've found, who I am  
There's no way to hold it in  
No more hiding who I want to be  
This is me_

We both just sat there, Shane was still looking lost, while I wallowing in self pity. He hated it. He was looking for a way to soften the blow. The song was hideous. Crap. It wasn't worth his time, and he regretted having wasted his time listening it.

I wanted to get up, I almost did, I would have walked away, but I didn't know how to get home, I didn't know where we were.

I reached out, and placed my hand over his, lightly, barely making any pressure.

"Say something?" I whispered.

**Again, thanks to my awesome beta, Kendra (:**

**oh! And I wrote a one shot too, but I cant post it yet… my best friend would kill me if I posted it before she read it. **


	19. Chapter 18

"I-i don't know what to say Mitch." Shane told me sincerely.

"You can just say it's crap. Its fine, I don't expect you to lie."

"What!?" he almost screamed at me. "Crap!? Are you crazy? It was anything _but_ crap. It's good Mitchie. _Really_ good. One of the best songs I've ever heard good."

"You don't have to lie, Shane."

He took my hand in his, and looked at me straight in the eye.

"I'm not lying," he said through gritted teeth. "I don't lie."

I suddenly shivered, and realized it was dark, the sunset long gone. I didn't really want to go back home, but I wanted to go somewhere a little warmer. Suddenly, I felt something on my shoulders, and when I looked down I realized Shane had just draped his leather jacket across my shoulders.

"Thanks," I said, smiling.

**Not really much of an updte.. but anyway, I wont be able to post anything until next week, im going away in a couple hours, and I just wanted to let you guys know, but I promise Ill have an update up before the 13****th****! One got this and one for Its cool were just friends**


	20. Chapter 19

"Hey Jase!" I called up the stairs from the door.

I heard some shuffling and a loud thud, followed by a muffled groaned. Jason's door immediately shot open and he poked his head out.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing tomorrow?" I gave him the sweetest smile I could muster. I had absolutely nothing to do tomorrow; Shane was busy doing god knows what, and I missed Jase anyways. I had been spending so much time with Shane lately that I barely ever saw my brother.

"Nate and Shane are coming over tomorrow," he said a little hesitantly. I took in a deep breath.

A low "oh" managed to escape my lips and Jason's face brightened; I was puzzled as to why.

"And they're really excited, too. They can't wait to meet you. It's been a month since we came back, and they keep asking about you," he smiled even bigger.

I groaned.

"What? What's wrong Mitchie?" he panicked.

"I-I don't think I'm ready to meet them Jase," I replied, and I could see his face fall. "Just now, you have no idea how hard it was for me not to lash out at you for mentioning them," I tried to explain.

"Yeah, I suppose. I just thought since it's been some time, you were over it," he muttered, but I could still hear what he was saying.

"I'm sorry."

He didn't reply; he just went back into his room, but he left his door open this time, which meant I could come in if I felt like it. I went to my room and fetched my pajamas before going into the bathroom. Turning on the hot water all the way, I waited for the steam to fill up the room. I barely turned on the cold water before jumping into the bath, letting the pelting heat soak me. After a while I could feel the water getting colder, and I turned off the cold water completely. I lathered my hair with shampoo, rinsed, put on some conditioner, and started scrubbing away. I rinsed my hair as I combed through it, and got out of the shower as the water started getting too cold for my liking. I tied a towel around my body and another one around my hair, quickly slipping into my pajamas before heading to Jason's room.

He was strumming some song on his guitar, so I sat in the floor, took the towel off of my head and started slowly drying my hair in sections. I eventually moved on to trying to smooth through any knots with my fingers, all the while listening to him play.

"Okay, so I want you to listen to this new song and tell me what you think of it." He stopped strumming the song he had been playing around with for the last couple minutes and waited for me to look up at him before continuing. "It's usually Shane who sings it, but my voice will do for now I guess."

The strumming of chords started again, and I couldn't help but tap my fingers to the beat of the song.

_Hello beautiful  
How's it going?  
I hear it's wonderful in California  
I've been missing you  
It's true..._

But tonight  
I'm gonna fly  
Yeah tonight  
I'm gonna fly

'Cause I could comb across the world,  
And see everything  
And never be satisfied  
If I couldn't see those eyes

Jason continued to play the guitar a little longer and smiled. By the time he was done I was totally rocking the air drums, and once I realized he had stopped I felt the blood rush to my face.

"It's not finished yet, but I guess you liked it," he said cheekily.

I nodded, covering my face with my hands.

"You should totally hear Shane sing it. You'd be dumbstruck. His voice is amazing. So much better than mine."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay Jason. Whatever you say dear brother. I'm going to sleep now," I started walking away. "Don't wake me up," I added as an afterthought, with a mock threat face.

I could faintly hear someone laughing. It sounded familiar too, but it wasn't Jason's laughter. I was probably still half dreaming. I peaked at the clock on my bedside table. Noon. _Great_.

I got up, and after taking a quick look in the mirror, decided I needed a shower. I was sleepy, my hair was a mess from not combing it last night, and I just felt like a cold shower.

I slipped into the bathroom as silently as I could, and turned on the shower. I started taking off my clothes when I saw my hair brush, and decided to give it a try.

Of course, it didn't even move two centimeters. It was stuck. I groaned.

"Mornin' sleeping beauty," Jason chirped from outside.

"Jase," I acknowledged him.

"There were pancakes for breakfast, but you said not to wake you up, and we ate them all anyways," he said, and I could hear the guilt in his voice. "Yeah, sorry about that. But there's Lucky Charms," he added as an afterthought.

"That's fine Jase. I'm not even hungry." _Lie_. I was starving.

I could hear his footsteps grow faint, and I jumped into the shower, not really washing my hair, just letting it get wet. When I was done, I shut off the water.

I blow-dried my hair for a couple minutes, still leaving it damp. Before walking out of the bathroom, I pulled my hair back in a headband. Thankfully, I was able to quickly grab my bag, keys and phone and slip out of the house without bumping into anyone.

I was relieved to find the house empty when I got back, and even more when Jason came back shortly after I had arrived.

"Hey Jase, you feel like watching a movie?"

"Yeah," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the universe. "Scarface?"

"It's moments like this that make it hard for me to believe you don't have mind reading powers," I grinned.

"It wasn't _that_ hard to figure out since we've watched it 36 times in the last 8 months. And before you say anything, yes, I counted."

I just grinned.

I went downstairs and got the cookie jar and a tub of Vanilla Bean ice-cream. When I was back to Jason's room he'd set up the DVD and was already sitting on the couch, waiting for me.

"Chocolate chip," I grinned.

Jason clapped his hands in excitement. I couldn't help but laugh at him, he got just as excited as a 5 year old going to Disneyland for the first time. It wasn't long before I was sprawled over Jason, my lids heavy. Jason tried to pry me off so he could stand up and carry me to my room, but I refused to let go.

"Come on, Mitchie," he pleaded.

"No, I miss you," I said in a baby voice.

He reached out for the remote control and turned off the television.

"Okay, well do you want to sleep with me?"

I nodded.

"Then let me get up. I'll bring you your pajamas, and we can go to bed where we'll _both_ be more comfortable."

I grinned, and reluctantly moved. He was back with my pajamas shortly after, and he went into the bathroom to put his on as I changed into mine. I managed to crawl over to the bed, and as soon as my head hit the pillow I was out. I could tell the bed was shifting, and I could hear Jason chuckling lightly, but I didn't care.

I was tired and happy that I had my Jason back.

**Next chapters written already, but it hasn't been beta'ed yet. I sent Kendra like 3 different chapters… and let me tell you, next chapter… definitely NOT a filler.**** :D**

**As soon as I get back the chapter for its cool were just friends ill post it.**

**ONCE again, thanks to suburbs for being SO amazing.**


	21. Chapter 20

**Okay so, can you say OMG. Another update already, and it's definitely NOT a filler :D**

**Playlist:**

**Finger twist and split – cute is what we aim for**

**Wind blows – all American rejects**

"'Kay Mitchie, I have to go now, see you later," Jason smiled as he went down the stairs.

I went back into my room, and waited for Sierra to arrive.

"Hiya!" said an overly excited Sierra.

"Uh…"

"Oh! Jason said I could come in," she said in a slightly annoying, overly excited tone. "I bumped into him as he went out-"

"That's fine Sierra. You just surprised me. Why are you so excited anyway?"

"Oh Mitchie! You have no idea what happened!"

"What happened?" I asked, not really interested.

"Well, I bumped into Oliver, and-wait! You remember Oliver right?"

"Music store guy?"

"Music store guy," she repeated, nodding. "Anyways, we started talking, and he gave me this," she held out a small cardboard box, and I took it slightly confused.

I opened it, and inside was a guitar pick. Now, most people wouldn't really think much of it; they wouldn't really find anything about it special. But not me!

I was so shocked I dropped the box and started having trouble breathing.

"Slow, deep breathes Mitch. Now, please explain," she pleaded, "Oliver said this would happen."

I crouched and picked up the guitar pick, holding it in my hands like it was the most precious thing in the world. It might as well have been.

"Thi-this is Dave Murray's guitar pick! Did he say where he got it?"

"Dave Murray?"

"Sierra!" I groaned aggravated. "I've told you this before. Dave Murray, Iron Maiden's lead guitarist. You know, the poster over there by the window," I nodded towards the left. "Eddie. Iron Maiden's 'pet'."

She looked at me like I was speaking Chinese. I wish! At least _then_ she'd understand!

I groaned. "1970's heavy metal band. From England, Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson… ring any bells?"

She didn't say anything.

I got my Fender Stratocaster and started strumming the chords to 'Run to the Hills', and when she didn't respond, I started singing.

"Oh!" she said, raising a finger. "It's that 666 band thing."

"'_The Number of the Beast_'," I snapped back.

She giggled.

I was too mesmerized by the guitar pick to think about things properly.

"Okay, so wait."

She looked at me, startled; she had been looking out the window, consumed in her own thoughts.

"What's this got to do with you being so happy?" I asked, rather interrogated.

"Well, after he gave me the _thing_ we got to talking…"

"And…?" I encouraged, the suspense killing me.

"He asked me out!" she squealed, and I almost did myself too.

Now, this what I usually hate about girls, why I avoid them in fact, but Sierra was totally allowed to do that, considering the circumstances

After Sierra left, I just _had_ to call Shane. I managed to fight the urge while she was here because I didn't want to make her uncomfortable or left out in case we talked for longer than a couple seconds. He answered on the third ring and told me he was busy, but he suggested that we could meet at the park in a couple of hours.

Time flew by. In fact, I was almost late and had to rush out of the house with only my phone, my guitar and _of course_ my shiny new guitar pick.

Arriving at the park, I was a little disappointed to find Shane wasn't there yet, but I didn't let it put a damper on my mood. I walked for awhile before sitting down with my guitar. I strummed the chords to 'Fear of the Dark' and hummed the lyrics, too caught up in the song to notice Shane. As I finished and started playing 'The Trooper' he cleared his throat, causing me to blush. I stopped playing and just smiled sheepishly.

"Hi."

"Hello Mitch. Guitar Pick? That's new."

I grinned even bigger.

"And I never realized how good you were playing. Nice guitar too."

"Oh yeah? Nice guitar huh? Wanna try it?"

I held it out to him, and he took it. He held out his hand for the pick, and I just shook my head.

"Oh, I don't think so Shane."

He gave me a quizzical look, but played anyways. We just sat there, staring unashamedly at each other.

"So," he started, never stopping playing the guitar, "what's so special about that guitar pick that I can't use it?"

"Oh this? Well, you see, this right here, happens to be Dave Murray's guitar pick," I smiled.

He stopped mid strum and blinked a couple times, remaining completely stationary.

"You're joking right?"

I shook my head.

He held out his hand, and I handed it to him this time.

"Wow," he breathed out.

"Yeah, I know. Wow."

"You know, I might just have to keep this."

"Oh, no you don't. Don't even think about it buddy," I threatened.

He moved his hand and attempted to put it in his pocket, but I flung myself at him. Before I knew what was going on, I was trying to force it out of his grasp, conveniently perched on top of him, straddling his hips. He held his hands over his head and I slid up to reach them. As I did, my face came within a few inches of his. I took a hold of his hands, but didn't do anything, too mesmerized by the look in his eyes.

One of his hands slid away from my grasp, and he used it to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear as his face got closer and closer to mine.

I didn't really know what was going on, I didn't know if it was a trick to distract me, but I certainly hoped it wasn't. As his soft lips came in contact with mine I was still debating what I should do. Should I close my eyes? This could all be part of his plan. But I didn't care; the feeling of his lips on mine was so wonderful, I wouldn't have cared if Dave Murray himself was standing right behind me.

He pulled away and grinned, opening up his hand to offer me the guitar pick.

"You can keep that. I'd much rather have you," he whispered.


	22. Chapter 21

**Okay, so once again thanks to suburbs for being such an amazing beta, and being so patient. (:**

**Playlist**

**Spill the wine – war & eric burdon**

**Frontwards – los campesinos**

When I got home I had a dreamy smile on my face, and even Mom couldn't make it go away. I didn't really care about what she said or did, anything concerning her was unimportant and could just be ignored.

As soon as we were done with dinner, I cleared the plates, shoved them in the dish washer, and ran up to my room. I took a quick shower and got my laptop before lying in bed. I checked my email, deleted a bunch of junk and logged into messenger.

_RockStarr says: Fluffy bunny?_

"Shit! Oh Shit! I'm gonna _kill_ Jason." I switched windows as fast as I could, and typed up a more normal screen name, screwing up at least twice because I was so flustered.

_Fluffy Bunny says: Shut up! My brother must have logged onto my account._

_Mitchie says: There._

_RockStarr says: Well hello 2u2._

_Mitchie says: Hello (: I'm sorry I took so long. Mom said I had to have dinner with her, and it turned really long._

_RockStarr says: I _was_ getting quite bored, but ur here now. So it's fine._

_Mitchie says: What? Mr. Rockstar doesn't have any other friends 2 talk 2?_

_RockStarr says: Oh, no. Of course he does. Just no 1 as interesting as my friend fluffy bunny here._

_Mitchie says: I hate u._

"No I don't." I muttered to myself. I didn't really know what to say, I just hoped he would take it the right way.

_RockStarr says: U know that's not true. (:_

I sighed relieved.

_Mitchie says: I hate u even more._

_RockStarr says: Y thank u. I love u 2._

I couldn't help but freeze for a couple seconds at that. I sighed again. If only he meant it.

_Mitchie says: Kay. Whatev._

_RockStarr says: So…_

_Mitchie says: So…_

_RockStarr says: U never told me where u got that awesome guitar pick._

_Mitchie says: Oh. Oli gave it to me._

_RockStarr says: Oli?_

_Mitchie says: Yes. U know, my friend from the record store?_

_RockStarr says: Ur friend?_

"Oh. My. God," I thought. "Is he like, jealous?' I shook my head. He probably wasn't, but that didn't mean I couldn't tease him for a bit.

_Mitchie says: Y? u jelous?_

_RockStarr says: What? Me? NO! I mean, y would I be._

_Mitchie says: Huh. Well. Whatever._

_Rockstarr says: Uh, I have to go. Bye Mitch._

_Rockstarr has logged off._

"Well that was weird," I muttered to myself as I closed my laptop and set it next to my bed before going to sleep. I couldn't wait till I saw Shane again. I didn't know what we were anymore; I didn't know what to expect. And I certainly didn't know if he considered the kiss a mistake, but I really hoped that he didn't and that everything would be fine.

I was about to fall asleep when it hit me. I groaned. I had to call Sierra first thing tomorrow. She'd kill me if I didn't tell her.

I woke up when I felt weird vibrations on my face. I rubbed my eyes a bit, and then reached under my pillow for my phone.

_**Morning sunshine – Shane.**_

I checked the time before replying. 6 a.m. "What the hell?"

I turned around on bed, and opened up a blank message to reply.

_**What is wrong with u!? It's 6am! – Mitchie.**_

My phone vibrated again, but it wasn't a message. I took in a deep breath before picking up.

"Mitchie?" Shane sounded panicked. "I'm so sorry! Did I wake you up?"

I nodded, closing my eyes, and then smiled at myself when I realized he couldn't see me.

"Yeah," I said, realizing it didn't bother me as much as it did before; in fact, it didn't bother me at all.

"I-I didn't know you had your phone. I'm sorry! I just thought you'd see the message when you woke up. I didn't mean to wake you up," he continued.

"Shane," I interrupted, effectively stopping his rant. "It's okay. I'm awake so there's nothing you can do about it now. I'll just know not to sleep with my phone under my pillow in the future."

"I'm sorry."

"I said its fine!" I laughed.

"I know, but it doesn't change the fact that I am," he explained.

"So, what are you doing up at six anyway? I never pictured you as a morning person."

"I'm _not_ a morning person," he groaned. "Trust me. I couldn't help it, though. I have some things to work on."

"Work on? Couldn't you do it later?"

"No, it's… uh, kind of hard to schedule. It's not just me; I'm with some friends and some people I might work for," he elaborated.

"Work for? Doing what?"

"Is it really important?"

"Why are you being so mysterious?" I pushed.

"I'm not being mysterious – it's just not relevant yet. I'll tell you about it eventually-"

"It's nothing illegal right?" I interrupted again.

"No, it's nothing illegal Mitch," he assured.

"But you'd tell me if it was right?"

"Yes, I would. I just…"

"You don't trust me?"

"What!? No! I do trust you," he replied almost too quickly. He sounded panicked. "It's just, I'm not sure how you'll react, and I don't want it to influence the way you see me."

"So it's pretty important then," I concluded.

"You could say that," he replied, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

"So, if this is _so_ important, shouldn't you be working?"

"I should…"

"Then why aren't you?"

"I had more important things to do," he said softly.

I almost died at his comment. It was so sweet. I wanted to hug him. I realized I was smiling like an idiot, still in bed and holding my phone to my ear.

"Well, I'll leave you it now. Now that I think about it, I have things to do. Thanks for the wake- up call," I smiled.

"Okay, bye Mitchie," he said, and I could hear the sadness in his voice. I was sometimes amazed at how well I knew him considering I'd only met him a month ago. "I'll call you later."

"Bye," I whispered, and I heard him hang up.

_**U R going to die! I have MAJOR news to tell u – Mitchie.**_

_**What is it! What is it!? – S.**_

_**Come over? – Mitchie.**_

_**Kay. Be there in 20. – S.**_

I changed into a pair of red skinny jeans, a loose black wife beater, black converse high-tops and a dark grey oversized cardigan.

It was only when I went downstairs to have some breakfast that I realized Jason wasn't home. I had just gotten out the Cocoa Puffs box and the carton of milk when I heard someone at the door, so I left them on the table while I checked who it was.

"Mitchie!"

"Hey Sierra!"

She hugged me, and I could tell she was dying to tell me something herself; I bet it had something to do with Oliver. We walked back into the kitchen, and I asked if she wanted anything before I began to eat. As soon as I was done, I put the bowl in the sink and we went upstairs.

"Ikissedshane!" I squealed, so fast even I couldn't understand what I had said.

"What!? All I understood was something Shane."

"I said," I took a deep breath, "that I kissed Shane." I closed my eyes, and sucked in a deep breath, "well, he kissed me first, but it's not like I stopped him you kno-"

"I get it Mitchie," she giggled, interrupting me.

I opened my eyes, blushed and smiled sheepishly.

"Okay, but you can't say a word about this to anyone!"

She nodded. Sierra was good about things like that.

"After you left, I went to the park to meet up with him, and I was playing the guitar. Once he got there, I lent him my guitar, but I refused to give him the pick. He was all confused, but played for me anyway."

I looked up at her, and she smiled encouragingly.

"Well, after a while, I told him I couldn't give it to him because it was Dave's-"

"You and your weird music obsession," she muttered.

"Hey! I don't see you complaining about _Oliver_!" I accused.

And this time _she_ blushed.

"As I was saying, I told him it was Dave's pick, and he got super excited, and now that he knew, I gave it to him because I knew he would take good care of it. Anyways, he took it and said he wouldn't give it back."

She gave me a look of mock aggravation, and I couldn't help but laugh at her.

"So, not thinking things through, I just threw myself at him, and tried to reach for it but I couldn't. Somehow, I ended up over him, straddling him, and as I tried to get a hold of his hand, our faces got really close, and I didn't know what to doandhejustclosedthegapandkissedme!"

She just looked at me, and I got the message. I blushed once again.

"He leaned up and kissed me," I sighed.

She smiled at me, and she was about to say something, but I had to finish before she started telling me whatever happened with Oliver.

"And when he pulled away he just gave the pick back and said he'd rather have me," I grinned.

On cue, she "awed" and I smiled even bigger.

She started teasing me, and when I got to the point where I thought my face would explode, I just had to do something to stop her.

"So, what happened with Oliver?"

She got a dreamy face. "Wh-what? How did you know?"

"Oh, come on! I know that look. You should have seen your face when you got here"

She got a dreamy smile, and her eyes looked distant.

"Sierra! Focus."

She jumped a little.

"Oh! Yeah, Oliver. It's nothing really. We just talked last night, and I really like him, he's really nice, and I think he likes me too. I mean okay, he asked me out, but he seems really sincere and-" she gushed, but I just tuned her out. Sure, I was happy for her, but I was ecstatic about what had happened with Shane. I just let her enjoy the moment; I could tell her about this morning some other time.


	23. Chapter 22

"Is there anything you would like to tell me Mitchie?" Jason enquired.

"No?" I tried. I figured feigning ignorance was the best option. Besides, I really didn't know what he was talking about. Seriously, there were _tons_ of things he could be referring to.

"Are you sure?" he prodded once again.

"Yes?"

Sighing, he closed the door behind him after checking that there was no one around. Then he walked up to where I was sitting on the floor between my bed and the window and sat down next to me. He took one of the guitars propped against the wall, and started strumming a song I hadn't heard in a long time, one of our songs.

"Come on. I know you Mitchie. Something's going on. This-" he gestured towards me, "this-you've changed. I'm not saying it's bad; you seem happier now. I just want to know what brought it on."

I stared at him for a long time. Had I really changed that much? Sure, I had Shane, and Sierra, and even Oliver now, but was that it? Had they changed me that much? Maybe it was me. Had I grown up so much in just a couple months? Surely not. It was true I was getting along with mom better-or rather less. I was away so much I barely ever saw her.

"I… I don't know," I replied honestly. Even if I kept some of my suspicions from him, I was still being honest. I _didn't_ know.

He looked at me sternly, but after a couple seconds Jason realized I was telling the truth and dropped the subject. He eventually stopped playing, and left. He left me alone to drown in my sea of uncertainties.


End file.
